What is the common purpose of a blue team in cybersecurity?

The blue team's primary role in cybersecurity is to defend against and respond to cyber threats. This involves a range of activities essential for maintaining the security posture of an organization, including monitoring systems for suspicious activity, analyzing alerts, implementing defensive measures, and responding to incidents when they occur. They are tasked with ensuring that security policies are enforced, vulnerabilities are managed, and that the organization's infrastructure can withstand potential attacks.

In contrast, conducting penetration tests is typically the responsibility of a red team or external security consultants who simulate attack scenarios to identify vulnerabilities, rather than defending against them. Developing new cybersecurity technologies is usually the domain of research and development teams or specialized vendors focused on innovation. Creating awareness programs falls more under the responsibilities of security awareness teams or training coordinators who educate employees about security best practices, but it is not the core purpose of a blue team. Hence, the focus of the blue team on active defense, incident response, and continuous monitoring makes it a vital function in the overall cybersecurity strategy.