Art. 1 Definitions

‘control team’ means the team composed of staff of the tested financial entity and, where relevant in consideration of the scope of the TLPT(threat-led penetration testing) a framework that mimics the tactics, techniques and procedures of real-life threat actors perceived as posing a genuine cyber threat, that delivers a controlled, bespoke, intelligence-led (red team) test of the financial entity’s critical live production systems, staff of its third-party service providers and any other party, who manages the test.

‘control team lead’ means the staff member of the financial entity responsible for the conduct of all TLPT-related activities for the financial entity in the context of a given test;

‘blue team’ means the staff of the financial entity and, where relevant, staff of the financial entity’s third-party service providers and any other party deemed relevant in consideration of the scope of the TLPT(threat-led penetration testing) a framework that mimics the tactics, techniques and procedures of real-life threat actors perceived as posing a genuine cyber threat, that delivers a controlled, bespoke, intelligence-led (red team) test of the financial entity’s critical live production systems, of the financial entity’s third-party service providers, that are defending a financial entity's use of network and information systemsmeans a network and information system as defined in Article 6, point 1, of Directive (EU) 2022/2555; by maintaining its security posture against simulated or real attacks and that is not aware of the TLPT(threat-led penetration testing) a framework that mimics the tactics, techniques and procedures of real-life threat actors perceived as posing a genuine cyber threat, that delivers a controlled, bespoke, intelligence-led (red team) test of the financial entity’s critical live production systems;

‘blue team tasks’ means tasks that are typically carried out by the blue team such as security operation centre (SOC), ICT infrastructure services, helpdesk services, incident management services at operational level;

‘purple teaming’ means a collaborative testing activity that involves both the testers and the blue team;

‘TLPT authority’ means:

the single public authoritymeans any government or other public administration entity, including national central banks. in the financial sector designated in accordance with Article 26(9) of Regulation (EU) 2022/2554, or

the authority in the financial sector to which the exercise of some or all of the tasks in relation to TLPT(threat-led penetration testing) a framework that mimics the tactics, techniques and procedures of real-life threat actors perceived as posing a genuine cyber threat, that delivers a controlled, bespoke, intelligence-led (red team) test of the financial entity’s critical live production systems is delegated in accordance with Article 26(10) of Regulation (EU) 2022/2554, or
the competent authorityas defined in Article 46 in accordance with Article 46 of Regulation (EU) 2022/2554;

‘TLPT Cyber Team’ or ‘TCT’ means the staff within the TLPT(threat-led penetration testing) a framework that mimics the tactics, techniques and procedures of real-life threat actors perceived as posing a genuine cyber threat, that delivers a controlled, bespoke, intelligence-led (red team) test of the financial entity’s critical live production systems authority(ies), that is responsible for TLPT-related matters;

‘test managers’ means staff designated to lead the activities of the TLPT(threat-led penetration testing) a framework that mimics the tactics, techniques and procedures of real-life threat actors perceived as posing a genuine cyber threat, that delivers a controlled, bespoke, intelligence-led (red team) test of the financial entity’s critical live production systems authority for a specific TLPT(threat-led penetration testing) a framework that mimics the tactics, techniques and procedures of real-life threat actors perceived as posing a genuine cyber threat, that delivers a controlled, bespoke, intelligence-led (red team) test of the financial entity’s critical live production systems to monitor compliance with the requirements of this Regulation;

‘threat intelligence provider’ means the expert(s), external to the financial entity and to ICT intra-group service providersmeans an undertaking that is part of a financial group and that provides predominantly ICT services to financial entities within the same group or to financial entities belonging to the same institutional protection scheme, including to their parent undertakings, subsidiaries, branches or other entities that are under common ownership or control; if any, who collect and analyse targeted threat intelligencemeans information that has been aggregated, transformed, analysed, interpreted or enriched to provide the necessary context for decision-making and to enable relevant and sufficient understanding in order to mitigate the impact of an ICT-related incident or of a cyber threat, including the technical details of a cyber-attack, those responsible for the attack and their modus operandi and motivations; relevant for the financial entitiesas defined in Article 2, points (a) to (t) in scope of a specific TLPT(threat-led penetration testing) a framework that mimics the tactics, techniques and procedures of real-life threat actors perceived as posing a genuine cyber threat, that delivers a controlled, bespoke, intelligence-led (red team) test of the financial entity’s critical live production systems exercise and develop matching relevant and realistic threat scenarios;

‘leg-up’ means the assistance or information provided by the control team to the testers to allow the testers to continue the execution of an attack path where they are not able to advance on their own, and where no other reasonable alternative exists, including for insufficient time or resources in a given TLPT(threat-led penetration testing) a framework that mimics the tactics, techniques and procedures of real-life threat actors perceived as posing a genuine cyber threat, that delivers a controlled, bespoke, intelligence-led (red team) test of the financial entity’s critical live production systems;

‘attack path’ means the route followed by testers during the active red team testing phase of the TLPT(threat-led penetration testing) a framework that mimics the tactics, techniques and procedures of real-life threat actors perceived as posing a genuine cyber threat, that delivers a controlled, bespoke, intelligence-led (red team) test of the financial entity’s critical live production systems in order to reach the flags defined for that TLPT(threat-led penetration testing) a framework that mimics the tactics, techniques and procedures of real-life threat actors perceived as posing a genuine cyber threat, that delivers a controlled, bespoke, intelligence-led (red team) test of the financial entity’s critical live production systems;

‘flags’ are key objectives in the ICT systems supporting critical or important functionsmeans a function, the disruption of which would materially impair the financial performance of a financial entity, or the soundness or continuity of its services and activities, or the discontinued, defective or failed performance of that function would materially impair the continuing compliance of a financial entity with the conditions and obligations of its authorisation, or with its other obligations under applicable financial services law; of a financial entity that the testers try to achieve through the test;

‘sensitive information’ means information that can readily be leveraged to carry out attacks against the ICT systems of the financial entity, intellectual property, confidential business data and/or personal data that can directly or indirectly harm the financial entity and its ecosystem would it fall in the hands of malicious actors;

‘pool’ means all the financial entitiesas defined in Article 2, points (a) to (t) participating in a pooled TLPT(threat-led penetration testing) a framework that mimics the tactics, techniques and procedures of real-life threat actors perceived as posing a genuine cyber threat, that delivers a controlled, bespoke, intelligence-led (red team) test of the financial entity’s critical live production systems pursuant to Article 26(4) of Regulation (EU) 2022/2554;

‘host Member State’ means host Member State in accordance with applicable sectoral legislation;

‘joint TLPT’ means a TLPT(threat-led penetration testing) a framework that mimics the tactics, techniques and procedures of real-life threat actors perceived as posing a genuine cyber threat, that delivers a controlled, bespoke, intelligence-led (red team) test of the financial entity’s critical live production systems, other than a pooled TLPT(threat-led penetration testing) a framework that mimics the tactics, techniques and procedures of real-life threat actors perceived as posing a genuine cyber threat, that delivers a controlled, bespoke, intelligence-led (red team) test of the financial entity’s critical live production systems referred to in Article 26(4) of Regulation (EU) 2022/2554, involving several financial entitiesas defined in Article 2, points (a) to (t) using the same ICT intra-group service providermeans an undertaking that is part of a financial group and that provides predominantly ICT services to financial entities within the same group or to financial entities belonging to the same institutional protection scheme, including to their parent undertakings, subsidiaries, branches or other entities that are under common ownership or control;, or belonging to the same groupmeans a group as defined in Article 2, point (11), of Directive 2013/34/EU; and using common ICT systems.

Article 1Note: This article is based on the final draft from the ESAs and is not yet adopted. Definitions