Walmart’s groundbreaking approach to cybersecurity has just been revealed, and it’s a game-changer. The retail giant has ditched traditional siloed red and blue teams in favor of a collaborative “Trusted Agent” model, where both offensive and defensive security practitioners work together to improve the company’s overall security posture.
At the heart of this innovative approach is Jason O’Dell, Walmart’s Global VP of Security Operations. Recognizing that the traditional model of rigidly separate teams conducting exercises in isolation delivers limited value and can even damage team morale, O’Dell has transformed purple teaming from a competitive win-lose scenario into a collaborative learning environment.
By physically co-locating teams and implementing a “trusted agent” observation model, Walmart has created a security operations culture where both offensive and defensive practitioners continuously elevate their skills. This approach emphasizes organizational improvement over individual victories, ensuring that the company’s overall security posture benefits from their combined growth.
The success of this initiative can be attributed to O’Dell’s focus on building trust and psychological safety within security operations. By creating a sense of togetherness, he has transformed tabletop exercises, attack simulation, and adversary emulation into opportunities for both teams to learn from each other. “I think you have to change that perception,” says O’Dell. “You have to make it a safe environment for them to understand that it’s about ‘Did we drive the best value to the organization in becoming better as a by-product of the campaign and the work we did?'”
In this approach, observers from the blue team sit with the red team during adversarial emulation exercises, providing real-time feedback on telemetry, logs, and detections. This not only ensures that the exercise is safe for the business but also allows both teams to learn from each other’s strengths and weaknesses.
As a result of this innovative approach, Walmart has seen significant benefits, including improved staff retention and increased value to the organization as a whole. “What does that cause the red team to do? It causes them to pivot,” says O’Dell. “Over time, you get this incremental increase in both your red team and blue team that drives value to your organization, ’cause they’re both getting better.”
This approach has far-reaching implications for cybersecurity professionals everywhere. By adopting a collaborative model, organizations can break down the silos between red and blue teams and focus on driving mutual growth and improvement. As O’Dell’s story shows, it’s not just about winning or losing an exercise; it’s about creating a culture of trust and collaboration that benefits everyone involved.
If you’re looking to transform your organization’s security operations strategy, take note of Walmart’s groundbreaking approach. By prioritizing trust and collaboration over competition, you can drive real value to your organization and create a more effective cybersecurity posture.
Source: Dark Reading — 2026-08-12