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Kestrel  /  Adversary Emulation
MOD-EMU · § 01

Adversary Emulation

Represent a real adversary as a chain of ATT&CK-mapped abilities and run it end to end, so you can watch an intrusion unfold and see exactly where it is stopped.

§ A — OVERVIEW

Why it matters

Most security assessments check patch levels and control coverage. They rarely test the one thing that matters most: how your program holds up while an adversary is actively moving through your network.

Kestrel represents adversary behavior as a chain of ATT&CK-mapped abilities and executes it end to end — so you can watch a realistic intrusion unfold and see precisely where it is caught, and where it is not.

  • Threat-group profiles. Start from curated profiles that mirror how known adversaries operate, or compose your own from individual abilities.
  • Faithful to real TTPs. Abilities are modeled on documented techniques rather than synthetic tests, so results reflect genuine risk.
  • Repeatable by design. Save an emulation, version it, and re-run it after every change to prove a fix actually held.
§ B — PROFILES

An emulation is built from three parts.

Small, composable pieces you can read, edit, and share.

ABILITY

Composable abilities

Each technique is a self-contained unit with its own payload, cleanup step, and success criteria.

PROFILE

Adversary profiles

Group abilities into a profile that represents how a specific actor tends to operate.

SCOPE

Bounded execution

Constrain an operation to specific hosts, subnets, and windows so testing always stays inside the lines.

§ C — IN PRACTICE

A profile, read top to bottom.

Every profile is transparent. You can see exactly which techniques it will attempt and in what order — no black boxes, no surprises.

profile · "Nightfall"
# reconnaissance
T1595 active scanning
T1592 gather host information
# initial access + execution
T1078 valid accounts
T1059 command interpreter
# persistence
T1547 boot autostart
# objective
T1005 data from local system ✓ collected
Get started

Put adversary emulation to work.

Run a curated profile against your own environment, with your own authorization, and see what your defenses do about it.