A successful AI red team engagement hinges not just on technical execution but on disciplined communication. A breakdown in communication can lead to mission failure, unnecessary operational friction, or even trigger a real security incident. This protocol template establishes clear, predictable channels and expectations for all stakeholders, ensuring information flows effectively from kickoff to final debrief.
Core Communication Principles
All communication during this engagement will adhere to the following principles:
- Single Source of Truth: The official project management tool (e.g., Jira, Azure DevOps) is the definitive source for finding status, details, and remediation tracking. Verbal discussions must be summarized and logged there.
- Need-to-Know Basis: Sensitive operational details are restricted to the Red Team and the White Cell/Oversight committee. Findings are shared with defensive teams and sponsors only through designated channels and reports.
- Proactive Over Reactive: The Red Team Lead is responsible for proactively communicating progress, blockers, and significant findings. Stakeholders should never have to chase the team for a status update.
- Formal vs. Informal Channels: Distinguish between real-time operational chat (informal) and official reporting or requests (formal). Critical decisions or findings must always be documented in a formal channel.
Stakeholder Directory
Clear roles prevent confusion. The following roles are designated for this engagement:
- Red Team Lead (RTL)
- The primary point of contact for the engagement. Responsible for all communication from the Red Team.
- Project Sponsor
- The business or technical leader who has authorized the test. Receives high-level summaries and is the final decision-maker on scope changes.
- White Cell / Engagement Oversight
- A small group of trusted agents (often including the CISO and system architects) who have full visibility into the Red Team’s activities. They act as the deconfliction authority.
- Blue Team Lead (BTL)
- The primary contact for the defensive security team. Receives sanitized intelligence and findings according to the rules of engagement.
- Technical Point of Contact (TPOC)
- A designated engineer or data scientist from the target system’s team, available for technical clarification about the AI model or its infrastructure.
Communication Matrix
This matrix defines the standard communication events for the project. Ad-hoc communication is permitted but should be minimized.
| Communication Type | Audience | Channel | Frequency | Purpose |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Daily Stand-up | Red Team, White Cell | Secure Video Conference | Daily | Review previous day’s activities, plan for the current day, and identify blockers. |
| Weekly Status Report | Project Sponsor, White Cell | Encrypted Email / Secure Portal | Weekly (Friday EOD) | High-level summary of progress against objectives, major themes observed, and next week’s focus. |
| Critical Finding Alert | White Cell (Immediate), Project Sponsor (within 4 hours) | 1. Secure Chat 2. Encrypted Email |
As needed | Immediate notification of a finding that poses a significant and imminent risk to the organization. |
| Technical Query | TPOC (via White Cell) | Secure Chat / Jira Ticket | As needed | Request for clarification on system architecture, model behavior, or data pipelines. |
| Deconfliction Request | White Cell | Dedicated Phone Line / Secure Chat | As needed (Urgent) | Blue Team query to verify if suspicious activity is part of the authorized test. |
| Engagement Close-out | All Stakeholders | Formal Meeting | End of Project | Presentation of final report, key findings, and strategic recommendations. |
Communication Flow Diagram
The following diagram illustrates the primary communication pathways established for this engagement.
Emergency Deconfliction Protocol
Deconfliction is the process of verifying whether an anomalous or malicious-looking activity detected by the Blue Team is part of the authorized Red Team test or a genuine incident. A slow or unclear deconfliction process is a major project risk.
Note: This process is the immediate line of communication before engaging the formal Escalation Process (see Chapter 24.1.4).
- Blue Team Detection: A Blue Team analyst observes activity suspected to be part of the test.
- Initial Contact: The Blue Team Lead (or a designated on-call analyst) immediately contacts the White Cell using the dedicated emergency phone line. The caller must provide their name, the time, and key indicators (e.g., source IP, target system, username).
- White Cell Verification: The White Cell reviews the Red Team’s live activity logs. They have 15 minutes to confirm or deny that the activity belongs to the Red Team.
- Confirmation: If confirmed, the White Cell informs the Blue Team to “stand down” on this specific indicator. The event is logged by both teams.
- Denial or Uncertainty: If the activity is NOT from the Red Team, or if confirmation cannot be made within 15 minutes, the White Cell will immediately instruct the Blue Team to treat it as a genuine incident and initiate their standard incident response (IR) procedures.
- Red Team “Cease-fire”: In the event of a real incident, the White Cell may order the Red Team to immediately halt all testing activities to avoid contaminating the IR investigation.