Cobalt Strike
Case Study: Elevating Red Team Operations with Fortra’s Cobalt Strike
Fortra’s Cobalt Strike is a powerful threat emulation tool that provides a post-exploitation agent and covert channels ideal for Adversary Simulations and Red Team exercises, replicating the tactics and techniques of an advanced adversary in a network.
These tools complement Cobalt Strike’s solid social engineering process, its robust collaboration capability, and unique reports designed to aid blue team training.
Recently we had a case of a multinational healthcare provider who needed to validate its security posture against sophisticated threats. With sensitive patient data and regulatory obligations, the organisation required advanced adversary simulations that could go beyond traditional penetration testing.
The Challenge
- Existing security assessments only covered initial perimeter breaches, not what attackers could do afterward.
- SOC teams had limited visibility into covert communication techniques.
- The organisation needed to test against customised, evolving threats without relying on canned playbooks.
The Solution
- Beacon Payloads simulated stealthy and interactive attacker behaviour.
- Malleable C2 Profiles disguised traffic to bypass detection.
- Arsenal Kit & BOFs enabled custom tradecraft and extended post-exploitation capabilities.
- Collaboration features allowed global red team operators to share sessions and coordinate seamlessly.
- Integration with Core Impact & Outflank Tooling created layered, realistic attack simulations.
The Results
- Improved Threat Detection — blue teams identified stealthy attack patterns.
- Enhanced Readiness — staff trained against realistic adversary simulations.
- Actionable Insights — detailed reporting highlighted vulnerabilities and remediation priorities.
- Stronger Security Posture — reduced risk from advanced persistent threats (APTs).
Cobalt Strike Demonstration
Cobalt Strike’s system profiler is a web application that maps your target’s client-side attack surface, providing a list of applications and plugins it discovers through the user’s browser.
Cobalt Strike Tech Walkthrough
Cobalt Strike developers and researchers will demonstrate usage of the product and show the advanced evasion and customisation of Cobalt Strike through a hands-on demo.
Why Cobalt Strike?
Cobalt Strike gives you a post-exploitation agent and covert channels to emulate a quiet long-term embedded actor in your customer’s network. Malleable C2 lets you change your network indicators to look like different malware each time. These tools complement Cobalt Strike’s solid social engineering process, its robust collaboration capability, and unique reports designed to aid blue team training.
Get Started
As a Fortra partner, S4 Applications works with clients to help them understand their attack surface, priorities, and goals. We develop a roadmap to deploy the right solution for your needs.