How to Enhance Cyber Resilience with Cyber Attack Tabletop Exercises

Ransomware infections, data breaches, severe outages due to cyber attacks – unfortunately, these have become common news on an almost daily basis. They also cause enormous financial and reputational damage in many cases.

Is there a way to prevent them completely? It doesn’t seem so. But is there a way to control the damage and bounce back faster from such events? Definitely.

Building your cyber resilience over time can greatly reduce the impact of cyber security attacks on your business and allow you to protect your business-critical operations as much as possible. And cyber attack exercises can play a huge role in the quest for cyber maturity and resilience.

In this blog we will explore the concept of cyber attack drills, their benefits and how organizations can leverage them to improve their cyber security posture.

We cover the following aspects of cyber crisis tabletop exercises in this article:

1. Understanding cyber attack drills
2. The benefits of a cyber attack exercise
3. Best practices for a successful cyber attack simulation exercise

Understanding cyber attack drills

A cyber crisis tabletop exercise is basically an exercise based on simulated attack scenarios. It brings together key stakeholders from different organizational departments to discuss and practice their hypothetical response to the attack scenario.

Generally, these exercises will be best performed by an experienced external instructor. There are two main reasons for this:

1. The professional facilitator has worked with multiple organizations across industries and geographies. The perspective they can bring to the simulated attack scenario will usually be unmatched by anyone on the inside. The fact that they do this for a living and therefore their scenario creation will be detailed, professional and nuanced goes without saying.
2. They are third party – unbiased to any department, not heavily invested in existing established cyber security protocols, completely neutral. An outsider’s objective view of how staff would hypothetically respond to an attack scenario is invaluable. Their opinions and insights into your existing cybersecurity policies, programs and procedures will also be completely unbiased and brutally honest.

The exercise itself usually involves discussing and planning the strategy of the participants’ actions in response to the developing scenario. The expert facilitator will usually create an atmosphere of panic and chaos and put the participants under pressure. This is simply to replicate the war zone environment that a cyber attack usually leads to.

The exercise then effectively brings out and emphasizes the following:

1. How knowledgeable the stakeholders are about the existing Incident response plans and other cybersecurity artifacts (checklists, policies, procedures) of the organization.
2. How well they understand their individual roles and responsibilities in the event of a cyber security incident.
3. What are the existing gaps in the current cyber security plans, policies and procedures.
4. What are the strengths and weaknesses of corporate cyber security in general.
5. What technological solution gaps exist today.
6. Which staff members could use more in-depth training and orientation in cyber security and cyber incident planning and response.
7. Whether you need help from external cyber security experts and/or incident response guards during a real incident.

The benefits of cyber attack desk exercises

We looked at what a cyber attack simulation exercise can achieve. Here are some more detailed benefits of the Cyber ​​​​Attack Tabletop exercise and how it can help strengthen your overall cyber resilience:

1. Identify gaps and weaknesses: Desktop exercises provide a controlled environment for organizations to identify potential vulnerabilities in existing cyber security infrastructure, policies and procedures.

   By simulating realistic attack scenarios, the facilitator can help you see existing weaknesses that might otherwise go unnoticed and help you understand what proactive measures you can take to address them.

   If you realize that you need to strengthen your existing position and maturity in the field of cyber security, you may consider using Virtual cyber security experts. They can help you review and update your existing programs, policies and documents, assist in conducting breach readiness assessments and even achieve your compliance goals.

2. Checking incident response plans: Tabletop cyber attack exercises provide the best opportunity to test the effectiveness of your cyber incident response plans. Not only do participants get a chance to practice executing their response strategies, they also help you identify bottlenecks and improve your incident response processes.

   This allows participants to fine tune their response and ensure a more effective and coordinated response in the event of an actual cyber attack.

   But most importantly, regular testing through table exercises helps build muscle memory for the participants. If they repeat the incident response enough times, when an incident actually occurs, they will react as if it is second nature to them. This can really help reduce stress and mistakes in a very chaotic situation.

3. Improving communication and collaboration: Tabletop exercises facilitate cross-departmental collaboration and communication between key stakeholders.

   Participants from IT, legal, HR, PR and executive leadership can come together to understand each other’s roles and responsibilities during a cyber attack.

   This collaborative approach promotes a better understanding of the organization’s overall cybersecurity posture and encourages teamwork in addressing potential threats.

4. Building a culture of cyber security awareness: Tabletop exercises play a crucial role in fostering a culture of cybersecurity awareness within the organization. By involving employees from different departments, these exercises create a shared understanding of the importance of cyber security and the role each person plays in maintaining a secure environment.

   This increased awareness can lead to more vigilant behavior and improved adherence to security protocols throughout the organization.

   

Summary

Cyber ​​attack exercises are indispensable tools for organizations seeking to improve their cyber security resilience against attacks.

By simulating realistic attack scenarios and promoting collaboration between key stakeholders, you can identify your organizational strengths and weaknesses. These exercises are the ideal test of your incident response plans and also help you improve communication channels, and foster a culture of cyber security awareness.

By investing time and resources in these exercises, you can significantly strengthen your ability to respond effectively to cyber threats, reduce the potential impact of attacks, and protect your critical assets.