Time is precious, but so is cybersecurity training.

So the Cyberbit incident response experts put together a series of three tabletop cybersecurity training exercises that are quick and easy to implement. If you’d like to go directly to the exercises, click below.

Tabletop Cyber Security Exercises:

Cyber Attack Playbook
Cyber Breach Decision Making
Cyber Crisis Management

Tabletop Cyber Security Training Exercises

Security leaders are unanimous regarding the importance and necessity of ongoing cybersecurity training for SOC and incident response teams. Yet, it is a complicated task that begins with planning and developing the security training sessions. This can last weeks to months and culminates in an ongoing struggle to find the right time to conduct the training. Tabletop cybersecurity trainings are an effective way to test procedures and playbooks, discover communication conflicts that may arise between people and teams, and challenge decision-making processes. The structure and planning of tabletop cybersecurity trainings are similar across all enterprises. However, the execution and scenarios vary depending on the participants and objectives of a specific enterprise.

Cyberbit incident response training experts wrote this guide to running tabletop exercises and includes links to three tabletop cybersecurity training exercises you can easily implement off the shelf, within days, neutralizing the difficulties that accompany the training process.

Before you start:

The key to building a successful cybersecurity training tabletop exercise is to clearly articulate the training audience, objectives and expected outcomes.

Step 1 – Audience
The first step is choosing the target audience. For example, the same ransomware response exercise will be constructed and delivered differently for board members than for incident response teams. Understanding your target audience allows you to choose the type of scenario to run, its complexity level and even which terminology to use during the exercise.

Step 2 – Objectives and Outcomes
The second stage is setting the scenario objectives and expected outcomes. Define up to three clear objectives per training, followed by no more than two specific expected outcomes. This will allow you to focus on the scenario stages, data and use cases and effectively build a cybersecurity training in a short period time.

Step 3 – Logistics
Once the first two steps are completed, there are some minor logistics you need to take care of. Print all the necessary material, prepare supporting tools if needed for the exercise such as playbooks, internet-connected laptops, etc. Finally, don’t forget to reserve a large conference room and order some refreshments.

Remember that apart from building the exercise, you will also function as the exercise manager, so the success of the exercise is mainly in your hands.

3 Golden Rules of Cyber Security Training Exercises:

1 – You can’t read minds – Everything that your trainees plan to do needs to be stated out loud.

2 – Take notes – Document the entire exercise. Use the scenario objectives to focus on the essence of the training. These will come in handy in the exercise debriefing stage.

3 – Simulate all roles – You are expected to simulate different teams, positions holders and executives in the organization in the event trainees would like to communicate with them during the training. Make sure you prepare some answers ahead of time.

Once everything is set, you are ready to choose one of our exercises to easily build a cybersecurity training exercise.

Tabletop Cyber Security Exercises:

Cyber Attack Playbook
Cyber Breach Decision Making
Cyber Crisis Management

To learn more about creating the framework for training your SOC team, download the free white paper: The Ultimate Cyber Skilling Framework