Crisis Preparedness

Test Your Response with Tabletop Exercises

Practice makes prepared. Our cyber crisis drills stress-test your incident response plans, decision-making, and team coordination—from boardroom to SOC—before real attackers put you to the test.

Schedule Your Drill Exercise Formats
Realistic Scenarios
Executive to Technical
NIS2 / DORA Compliant
The Reality

Why Crisis Drills

Incident response plans look great on paper. But when alarms fire at 3 AM, will your team know what to do? The organizations that recover fastest are those that have practiced.

70%
of IR plans fail first real test
54 Days
faster recovery with drilled teams
3x
more effective post-exercise
€1.2M
saved per incident on average
The Challenge

Incident Response Challenges

Having a plan isn't the same as being prepared. Most organizations discover their response gaps during real incidents—when the cost is highest.

Untested Plans

Your IR playbooks were written but never exercised. Will they work when it matters?

IR Plans

Unclear Roles

When crisis hits, who decides what? Confusion over authority wastes critical time.

Coordination

Communication Gaps

Internal escalation, external notification, media response—who says what to whom?

Comms

Slow Decisions

Critical decisions require executive approval. But executives aren't trained for cyber crises.

Executive

Siloed Response

IT, Legal, PR, HR, and business units don't know how to work together in crisis.

Integration

Regulatory Gaps

NIS2, DORA, GDPR require notification within hours. Do you know the process?

Compliance

Vendor Coordination

Engaging IR retainers, legal counsel, and forensics—time lost during crises.

Third Party

Recovery Readiness

Containment is just the start. How quickly can you actually restore operations?

Recovery

Compliance Requirements

DORA and NIS2 mandate crisis exercises. Are you meeting your obligations?

NIS2 DORA
Your Advantage

Benefits of

Exercises reveal gaps, build muscle memory, and prepare teams for the pressure of real incidents.

Identify Gaps

Discover weaknesses in plans, processes, and coordination before real incidents expose them.

For Security Teams

Find playbook gaps and missing procedures

For Executives

Know your response readiness before incidents

Build Muscle Memory

Teams that have practiced respond faster and more effectively under pressure.

For Security Teams

Faster triage and containment decisions

For Executives

Confident decision-making during crises

Team Coordination

Practice working across departments—IT, Legal, PR, HR, Business—as a unified response team.

For Security Teams

Clear handoffs and escalation paths

For Executives

Cross-functional alignment and clarity

Communication Readiness

Test notification procedures, holding statements, and stakeholder communications.

For Security Teams

Clear escalation and notification procedures

For Executives

Prepared messaging for all audiences

Regulatory Compliance

Meet NIS2, DORA, and sector-specific requirements for incident response testing.

For Security Teams

Documented evidence for auditors

For Executives

Demonstrate due diligence to regulators

Continuous Improvement

Each exercise produces actionable recommendations to strengthen response capabilities.

For Security Teams

Prioritized improvement roadmap

For Executives

Measurable progress in readiness

Exercise Formats

Tabletop Exercise Programs

From discussion-based exercises for executives to technical live-fire drills for SOC teams—tailored to your audience and objectives.

100+ Exercises Delivered
50+ Unique Scenarios
⭐ Expert Facilitation

Ransomware Attack

Work through a ransomware incident from detection to recovery, including payment decisions.

Detection response Containment decisions Payment dilemma Recovery planning

Data Breach

Handle a major customer data breach with regulatory notification and PR implications.

Breach scope Notification timeline Regulator contact Media response

Insider Threat

Navigate a scenario involving malicious or negligent insider activity.

Investigation balance Legal considerations HR coordination Evidence handling

Supply Chain Compromise

Respond to a breach originating from a trusted vendor or software update.

Scope uncertainty Vendor communication Customer impact Containment challenges

All exercises are customized to your industry, threat landscape, and organizational context. Plan your exercise →

Our Approach

Exercise

Our exercises follow NIST and industry best practices to deliver realistic, valuable training that improves actual response capabilities.

01
Week 1-2

Planning & Scoping

Define objectives, participants, scenario type, and success criteria for your exercise.

Objective definition Participant selection Scenario selection Logistics planning Pre-exercise briefing Success criteria
02
Week 2-3

Scenario Development

Create realistic scenarios tailored to your industry, threat landscape, and organizational context.

Threat research Scenario scripting Inject development Timeline creation Artifact preparation Facilitator briefing
03
Exercise Day

Exercise Execution

Facilitate the exercise with realistic scenario progression and dynamic injects.

Scenario presentation Timed injects Group discussions Decision capture Observation notes Real-time adaptation
04
Post-Exercise

Hot Wash Debrief

Immediate debrief to capture fresh observations and initial lessons learned.

Participant feedback Initial observations Key decisions review Gap identification Quick wins Next steps
05
Week +1

After Action Report

Comprehensive analysis with prioritized recommendations for improvement.

Full analysis Gap documentation Recommendations Priority ranking Action plan Metrics baseline
06
Ongoing

Improvement Tracking

Support implementation of recommendations and track improvement over time.

Action tracking Plan updates Follow-up exercises Progress measurement Annual program Maturity assessment
What You Receive

Exercise Deliverables

Comprehensive documentation and recommendations that drive continuous improvement in response capabilities.

After Action Report

Comprehensive analysis of exercise performance with prioritized findings.

  • Executive summary
  • Detailed observations
  • Gap analysis
  • Recommendations

Improvement Roadmap

Prioritized action plan for addressing identified gaps and weaknesses.

  • Quick wins
  • Strategic improvements
  • Timeline
  • Responsibility matrix

Scenario Package

Full scenario materials for internal use and future exercises.

  • Master scenario
  • Inject cards
  • Timeline
  • Facilitator guide

Exercise Recording

Recording of key segments for training and review purposes.

  • Decision points
  • Discussion highlights
  • Lessons learned

Participation Certificates

Documentation of participation for compliance and training records.

  • Individual certificates
  • Attendance log
  • Training credit

Updated Playbooks

Recommendations for updating IR plans based on exercise findings.

  • Gap analysis
  • Specific updates
  • Process improvements
  • Role clarifications

Communication Templates

Refined notification and communication templates tested in exercise.

  • Holding statements
  • Stakeholder updates
  • Regulatory notifications

Metrics Baseline

Baseline measurements for tracking improvement over time.

  • Response times
  • Decision quality
  • Coordination scores
  • Maturity level

Compliance Evidence

Documentation for regulatory compliance and audit purposes.

  • Exercise summary
  • Participant list
  • Findings addressed
  • Improvement evidence

Decision Log

Record of key decisions made during exercise for analysis and training.

  • Decision timeline
  • Rationale captured
  • Alternatives considered
  • Outcomes

Annual Program

Recommended schedule for ongoing exercises to maintain readiness.

  • Exercise calendar
  • Scenario rotation
  • Audience variation
  • Maturity progression

Executive Briefing

Summary presentation for leadership on findings and recommendations.

  • Key findings
  • Risk implications
  • Investment needs
  • Board summary
crisis-simulation-platform

Platform Screenshot

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Platform Interface

See the Platform in Action

For technical live-fire exercises, we provide a realistic simulation environment with actual attack artifacts for hands-on response training.

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Common Questions

Frequently asked questions

Tabletop exercises are discussion-based—participants work through scenarios verbally, describing what they would do. Live-fire exercises involve actual technical response: real indicators, actual tools, hands-on investigation. Tabletops are ideal for testing processes and decisions; live-fire tests technical capabilities. Most organizations benefit from both.
It depends on objectives. Executive tabletops include C-suite and board members. Cross-functional exercises bring together IT, Security, Legal, PR, HR, and Business. Technical drills focus on SOC, IR, and IT teams. The best exercises include representatives from all groups who would be involved in a real incident.
Executive tabletops run 2-3 hours. Cross-functional exercises typically take half a day. Technical drills can run a full day or longer. Live-fire exercises may span multiple days. We tailor duration to your objectives and participant availability.
Very. We develop scenarios based on real incidents, current threat intelligence, and your specific threat landscape. Injects are timed realistically, include authentic details, and force the kinds of decisions you'd face in real incidents. Many participants report forgetting it's an exercise.
Absolutely. Every scenario is customized to your industry, regulatory environment, and organizational context. We research sector-specific threats, incorporate relevant compliance requirements, and use realistic details that resonate with participants. Generic scenarios don't deliver real learning.
Both regulations require organizations to test their incident response capabilities. Tabletop exercises provide documented evidence of testing, identify gaps before incidents occur, and ensure teams understand notification timelines and procedures. We specifically incorporate regulatory requirements into relevant scenarios.
That's exactly when exercises are most valuable. We can start with simpler scenarios that test basic procedures, then progress to more complex exercises as capabilities mature. Exercises often reveal that plans need updating—which is better to discover in a drill than during a real incident.
We recommend at least annually, with quarterly exercises for mature programs. Vary the scenarios and participant groups across exercises. After major organizational changes, new threat emergence, or significant plan updates, additional exercises validate the changes.
Yes, we regularly conduct virtual tabletop exercises using video conferencing. While in-person is ideal for maximum engagement, virtual exercises work well and accommodate distributed teams. Technical live-fire exercises can also be conducted remotely with proper infrastructure.
That's the point—exercises are safe learning opportunities. Poor performance in a drill is infinitely better than poor performance in a real incident. We create psychologically safe environments where gaps can be identified without blame. The goal is improvement, not evaluation.

"We thought we were ready for ransomware. The tabletop revealed we weren't even close—unclear authority, no communication plan, and leadership had never practiced the payment decision. Six months and three exercises later, when we faced a real incident, the difference was night and day. We knew exactly what to do."

SD

CISO

European FinTech

Experienced Crisis Facilitators

Our facilitators combine incident response experience with training expertise

GCIH GCFA CISM ISO 22301 FEMA

Test Your Response Before Attackers Do.

The best time to discover gaps in your incident response is during a drill—not during a real attack. Practice makes prepared.

Schedule Your Exercise Incident Response Services