Silicon Valley-headquartered Operant AI, has launched Woodpecker, an open-source,
automated red teaming engine, that will make advanced security testing accessible to
organisations of all sizes. Woodpecker is designed to help organizations proactively detect and
address security vulnerabilities across AI systems, Kubernetes environments, and APIs.
Red teaming is a simulated cyberattack used to test and improve an organization’s
cybersecurity readiness. It involves ethical hackers emulating real-world adversaries to uncover
vulnerabilities and assess how effectively defenses can detect, respond to, and mitigate threats.
Traditionally, such sophisticated security testing is reserved for large enterprises with dedicated
security teams. Red teaming has now become increasingly vital for organizations of all
sizes—especially as modern infrastructure grows more complex with the rise of cloud-native
applications and AI technologies.
According to the IBM X-Force Threat Intelligence Index 2025, AI-related vulnerabilities have
become a critical concern for security teams, driven by the rapid adoption of Large Language
Models (LLMs) and automated agents across enterprise environments. Notably, the Asia Pacific
region accounted for over one-third of global cyberattacks in 2024, underscoring the urgent
need for proactive defense.
Red Teaming for all
“Security vulnerabilities don’t discriminate based on an organization’s size or resources, we
believe red teaming should not be a privilege for a few, it should be a foundational practice for
all,” said Vrajesh Bhavasar, CEO and co-founder of Operant AI. “With Woodpecker, we’re
leveling the playing field by providing enterprise-grade red teaming capabilities in an open
source solution that any organization can deploy. Security testing at this depth should be a
universal right, not a privilege reserved for those with the largest security budgets.”
Woodpecker is built for today’s GenAI world
Threats such as prompt injection, data poisoning, and model leakage continue to rise, yet only
24% of generative AI projects are currently secured, according to the IBM report. The
DSCI–Seqrite India Cyber Threat Report 2025 also underscores the growing complexity of
attacks, with 62% of malware detections occurring in cloud environments. Advanced threats like
BlackMamba, a generative AI-powered malware that rewrites its code on the fly, are already
bypassing traditional defenses—targeting critical sectors such as healthcare and BFSI.
Woodpecker is purpose-built to address these modern threats targeting AI applications, cloud
APIs, and Kubernetes environments and is designed to mimic how real attackers operate
across multiple layers of infrastructure.
“Secure AI applications like Cohere’s North demand rigorous testing across complex
components. Woodpecker simplifies this with open-source red teaming, enabling early
vulnerability detection and encouraging secure AI adoption,” said Prutha Parikh, Head of
Security at Cohere and board member at the Coalition for Secure AI.
Woodpecker provides automated red teaming capabilities across three critical domains:
- Kubernetes Security: Identifies misconfigurations, privilege escalations, and vulnerable
deployment patterns within container orchestration environments. - API Security: Simulate various attack scenarios to uncover vulnerabilities in API
endpoints, authentication mechanisms, and data handling processes. - AI Security: Tests machine learning models and AI systems for prompt injection, data
poisoning, and other emerging AI-specific attack vectors.
“The era of reactive security is over, especially with the rise of LLMs and AI agents in live
applications,” asserted Dr. Priyanka Tembey, Operant’s co-founder and CTO. “Woodpecker
puts the power of proactive red teaming directly into the hands of developers, allowing them to
rigorously test and secure their environments against emerging threats before they materialize.”
Key Features of Woodpecker:
● Red Teaming Across Kubernetes, APIs, and AI Workflows
○ Red Teams for K8s, APIs, and AI Models/Agents
○ Multi-layer Threat Simulation across runtime, APIs, and LLM integrations
● Automated LLM Red Teaming
○ Covers prompt injection, jailbreaks, model theft, sensitive data leakage and more
○ Uncover vulnerabilities by testing malicious prompts originating from both
adversarial and typical users.
○ Test output manipulation and filtering evasion
● Compliance Mapping for regulatory Frameworks
○ Covers across threat vectors for OWASP top 10 for K8s, API and AI, MITRE
ATLAS and NIST
● Open-Source and Free
○ Benefit from a powerful red teaming tool without licensing fees, fostering
widespread adoption.
● Easy Integration
○ Seamlessly integrate Woodpecker into existing security workflows and CI/CD
pipelines.
Operant’s Woodpecker is now available as an open source project on
https://github.com/OperantAI/woodpecker. Operant invites security engineers, developers, and
the open-source community to explore, contribute, and help advance the future of proactive
cybersecurity. As part of the launch, Operant will also host hackathons and developer
engagement programs in India, alongside community collaborations with the Coalition for
Secure AI (CoSAI), where the company is an active member. For more information on
Woodpecker visit https://www.operant.ai/solutions/woodpecker-red-teaming
With the launch of Woodpecker, an open-source and easy-to-use platform, Operant is
democratizing advanced security testing accessible to every organization, regardless of their
size or expertise. Woodpecker already simulates >50% of OWASP top 10 threats across APIs,
Kubernetes, and LLMs, exceeding the threat simulation scope of leading commercial red
teaming products. Woodpecker enables security teams, developers, and DevOps professionals
to proactively identify vulnerabilities and build more resilient applications, without the cost and complexity of traditional solutions.