The Center for Advanced Red Teaming (CART) is an interdisciplinary Research Center within the College of Emergency Preparedness, Homeland Security and Cybersecurity at the University at Albany.
The complexity inherent in the security context and other competitive environments of the 21st century presents multiple opportunities for Red Teaming – which encompasses a range of activities that seek to emulate the actions of adversaries – to play a role beyond its military origins. For example, the Red Teaming approach could benefit a variety of areas, from counterterrorism, cybersecurity and emergency response, to corporate espionage and business strategy.
Potential contributions of Red Teaming include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Testing of defensive systems and architectures to evaluate their effectiveness;
- Identifying previously unrecognized vulnerabilities at the operational level;
- Helping to identify emerging threats and in turn set new requirements for policy and investment at the strategic level;
- Training of response personnel by exposing them to realistic threats that they might face;
- Providing validation of novel tools and models that would otherwise be unfeasible or too expensive to validate using empirical data.
However, both the art and science of Red Teaming are underdeveloped, with limited research into how Red Teaming is best conducted and no accredited academic training or education programs. As the first academic center devoted to advancing the art and science of Red Teaming, CART seeks to address a conspicuous need, identified by practitioners, for both research and education in this growing area of security studies.
CART develops and employs new methodologies to assist a variety of sponsors in designing, conducting and evaluating advanced Red Team exercises. We engage with entities in the public and private sectors to enhance current risk, threat, and vulnerability assessments, and to improve their ability to anticipate, prevent and mitigate unwelcome shocks to their operations. Leveraging deep expertise in social and behavioral sciences, management research and engineering principles helps ensure that Red Teaming provides sponsors with maximum value added in terms of their mission goals.
CART applies cutting-edge scientific research techniques to validate and enhance existing Red Teaming practice. CART researchers conduct a variety of research efforts to improve the art and science of Red Teaming for the betterment of the field overall. CART 's research utilizes research and analysis methods across a wide range of disciplines. These include controlled experiments, surveys, statistical analysis, and computational modeling inter alia the research questions posed above. CART is committed to publishing the results of its research in ways that provide direct support to Red Team practitioners and scholars.
CART explores new applications for Red Teaming. CART researchers assess the extent to which Red Teaming can contribute to new domains, as well as how existing practices need to be modified to adapt to new contexts. It also works to integrate Red Teaming into a wide array of risk assessment tools, including computation risk models and response exercises.
CART serves as a clearinghouse for Red Teaming best practices and other resources. CART will serve as a repository of Red Teaming literature and guidance documents. It will also facilitate linkages across the broader Red Teaming community by providing both online forums for collaboration and convening in-person meetings to advance the science and practice of Red Teaming.
CART seeks to design and conduct accredited education and training in Red Teaming. CART's offerings will supplement existing training modules available at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers and within the U.S. Army's University of Foreign Military and Cultural Studies. Initially, CART's activities will provide experiential learning opportunities for students at the University of Albany and beyond. Planned offerings include a Graduate Certificate in Red Teaming for Defense for both University students and working practitioners, as well as a concentration in Red Teaming for CEHC Master's Programs.
CART will explore the pedagogy of Red Teaming. CART will examine the extent to which Red Teaming activities can function as a case-based learning approach that can be embedded in a variety of courses at various levels of education, from K-12 through graduate studies.
Primary Goals
- Employing interdisciplinary research and analysis techniques to advance the art and science of Red Teaming in support of the public and private sectors.
- Serving as a clearinghouse for Red Teaming best practices.
- Advocating for scientific approaches to Red Teaming.
- Educating and training the next generation of Red Teaming practitioners, emphasizing the strengths that diversity brings to the Red Teaming enterprise.
- Facilitating the recognition and implementation of Red Team results into policy and practice.
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1220 Washington Avenue
Albany, NY 12226
United States