Training
“Training is the foundation of success, and success is the reward of preparation.”
Tabletop exercises are essential in assessing incident response plans, playbooks, and other IR documentation. SecurityTTX conducts live online tabletop exercises enriched with years of experience responding to and managing cybersecurity incidents.
SecurityTTX offers a wide range of training objectives. Our scenarios are created to train all personnel responding to cybersecurity incidents. It is crucial to remember that, during a severe incident, incident response is not solely the responsibility of IT and technical response teams. Internal support functions, including executive leadership, also play a critical role. As a result, every organization member is responsible for ensuring a secure and efficient response to any incident.
We have developed numerous training exercises built on IR best practices and years of experience in incident management. They are designed to equip participants with the knowledge and skills necessary to excel in their field. Our expert trainers are fully equipped to assist your organization in achieving its goals, whether improving technical response abilities or enhancing executive leadership skills. We are committed to providing exceptional service and delivering the results you need to succeed.
Trust us to provide the guidance and support you need to succeed in today’s competitive business environment.
IR Security Staff TTX
Incident Response (IR) Security Staff TTXs are designed for the technical security teams responsible for protecting their organization's data. These are simulated scenarios aimed at honing organizational incident response protocols, pinpointing resource deficiencies, and elevating cybersecurity readiness within a secure and relaxed setting. The key objective is to evaluate the efficiency of incident response plans, process guides, playbooks, and other relevant documents organizations employ to tackle cybersecurity incidents. SecurityTTX uses real-world scenarios involving ransomware incidents, insider threats, supply chain attacks, and zero-day exploits, among other security threats.
Executive TTX
For senior executives, making swift and effective decisions in times of crisis is crucial. During high-severity incidents, an executive tabletop exercise can be beneficial. The training is designed to assess an organization's crisis management plan. Our Executive TTX is specifically tailored for senior leaders, providing them with the information and insight necessary to navigate difficult situations. By practicing critical decisions in a controlled environment, executives can identify areas for improvement in their crisis response strategies. This exercise is invaluable for any organization that values effective crisis management.
Support Staff TTX
During a severe security incident, non-technical support personnel must understand their roles in the incident response process. SecurityTTX has created exercises that concentrate on how these functions can aid investigations. These personnel can be crucial in responding to incidents like insider threats, ransomware attacks, or data breaches. Our exercises for this audience focus on addressing critical non-technical aspects such as privacy, cyber insurance, internal and external communications, and regulatory compliance requirements. Our ultimate aim is to equip non-technical support staff with a holistic understanding of incident response and their respective roles and responsibilities.
Understanding Roles, Responsibilities, and Decision-making: Our approach focuses on providing a clear understanding and clarification of roles and responsibilities during incident response. We ensure that each team member knows their specific role and how they contribute to the overall response effort. Moreover, we examine decision-making processes to ensure effective and timely actions are taken during critical moments.
Promoting Collaboration and Resource Utilization: We emphasize the importance of collaboration among teams during incident response. Our approach examines how teams work together, communicate, and share information to achieve common objectives. Additionally, we assess how preparation plans and other resources are utilized to optimize their effectiveness and ensure seamless coordination.
Identifying Strengths, Weaknesses, and Gaps: Through our exercises and simulations, we identify strengths and weaknesses in people, processes, and technology. This comprehensive evaluation helps uncover gaps in incident response capabilities, providing valuable insights for targeted improvements. By highlighting these areas, we facilitate a proactive approach to addressing vulnerabilities and enhancing overall incident response effectiveness.
Assessing IR Understanding and Preparedness: We evaluate the understanding of incident response practices and protocols within the organization. By assessing IR understanding, we identify areas where additional training or knowledge sharing is needed to strengthen response capabilities. Additionally, we assess the level of IR preparedness to ensure that teams are ready to effectively respond to security incidents.
Testing Incident Response Documentation: Our approach includes exercising the incident response plan, playbooks, and related documentation to validate their functionality and relevance. Through hands-on exercises, we test the effectiveness of these resources in guiding the response process and identify areas for improvement or updates to ensure they remain up to date and aligned with evolving threats.
Opportunities for Improvement and Recommendations: We explore opportunities for improvement throughout the incident response lifecycle. By analyzing the findings from the exercise and evaluation, we provide actionable recommendations to enhance incident response capabilities, refine processes, and leverage best practices. These recommendations are tailored to your organization’s specific needs and are aimed at strengthening your incident response posture.
Increasing IR Awareness and Functional Documentation: Our approach aims to raise the level of incident response awareness among participants. Through engaging exercises and simulations, we ensure that participants gain a deeper understanding of their roles, responsibilities, and the importance of a proactive incident response approach. Furthermore, we focus on making incident response documentation functional and relevant, providing guidance on developing clear, actionable, and easily understandable documentation that facilitates effective response actions.
Proactive Incident Response and NIST IR Lifecycle: Recognizing the importance of proactive incident response, our approach emphasizes dedicating ample time to prepare for serious security incidents. Following the NIST Incident Response (IR) Lifecycle as a metric, incident responders invest significant effort in preparing, surpassing the time allocated for detecting, containing, eradicating, or recovering from an incident. This proactive phase is critical but can often be undervalued or overlooked, and we prioritize its significance.
Addressing Industry-Specific Cybersecurity Threats: Our approach ensures that your organization is well-prepared for the most significant cybersecurity threats relevant to your industry. We conduct thorough research and analysis to identify specific threats that pose a high risk to your sector. By focusing on industry-specific threats, we tailor our incident response strategies to address the unique challenges and vulnerabilities you may face.
Incident Command Leadership: We emphasize understanding the crucial roles of Incident Command leadership during serious security incidents. Our training and guidance help key personnel develop the necessary skills and expertise to effectively lead and coordinate incident response efforts. This includes decision-making, resource allocation, communication, and overall incident management.
Non-Technical SMEs and Corporate Leadership: Recognizing the importance of cross-functional collaboration, our approach highlights the significant roles of non-technical subject matter experts (HR, Legal, Finance, Communications, Compliance, Security, etc.) during serious security incidents. We provide comprehensive insights into their responsibilities, ensuring effective integration of various departments for a coordinated and efficient response. Additionally, we emphasize the significant role of corporate leadership in guiding the organization through such incidents, promoting a culture of security and fostering a proactive and resilient approach.
Commitment to Security and Reputation Protection: By engaging in proactive incident response and demonstrating your commitment to security, you can showcase your dedication to protecting your customers and stakeholders. This commitment not only safeguards sensitive data and systems but also helps preserve your organization’s reputation, which is paramount in today’s interconnected and digitally-driven world.
Identifying Roadblocks and Learning from Experience: Our approach helps you identify potential roadblocks ahead of time, allowing for proactive mitigation and smoother incident response. Additionally, we recognize that experience is the best teacher. Through our hands-on exercises, simulations, and analysis of real-world incidents, we leverage valuable lessons learned to enhance your incident response capabilities and ensure continuous improvement.
Customized TTX Scenario Development: Our process begins by thoroughly understanding your organization, its operations, and any unique objectives you have. Based on this information, we develop a tailored TTX scenario that aligns with your specific security landscape.
Dedicated Trusted Advisor: We ask customers to assign a dedicated “trusted advisor” to collaborate closely with our team throughout the TTX process. This advisor serves as a knowledgeable resource, working hand-in-hand with your team to ensure the scenario accurately reflects your organization’s needs and objectives.
Facilitator-Advisor Collaboration: Our TTX facilitators actively collaborate with the trusted advisor, receiving valuable information and guidance to refine and tailor the simulation to your organization’s security landscape. The trusted advisor’s expertise ensures that the scenario is aligned with your specific requirements.
Review and Approval Process: Once a draft simulation is developed, it is reviewed and approved by the trusted advisor. This ensures that the final scenario accurately reflects your organization’s security landscape and objectives.
Delivery of Final Draft: SecurityTTX delivers the final draft to the trusted advisor for approval before the TTX delivery. This step ensures that all aspects of the simulation meet your expectations and objectives.
Online Simulation Delivery: Our experienced facilitator delivers the simulation online, utilizing popular platforms such as Teams, Zoom, or other preferred tools. This approach allows for convenient participation and effective engagement from all participants.
Flexible Duration: The typical duration of our TTX sessions is 2-4 hours, determined in collaboration with the trusted advisor. However, we can also tailor one-hour TTXs specifically for leadership or for addressing specific testing objectives, ensuring maximum efficiency and relevance.
Inject-based Scenario Approach: During the TTX, participants are provided with injects or known facts at specific intervals. The facilitator presents various aspects of a security event for the team to analyze and work through. Throughout this process, careful observation notes are taken to assess the team’s response organization, communication, collaboration, resource utilization, and more.
Response Actions and Documentation: Participants identify the members of their response team and provide response actions based on documented incident response (IR) plans, playbooks, and other relevant resources. This ensures that the team’s actions align with established protocols and best practices.
Capturing Institutional Knowledge: In cases where certain information is known by participants but not documented anywhere, our process focuses on capturing this institutional knowledge. Valuable insights and expertise shared during the exercise are recorded and documented to enhance future incident response efforts.
Facilitator Guidance: The facilitator may provide leading questions to guide participants toward expected actions for each inject, if necessary. The discretion for this guidance lies with the trusted advisor during the TTX planning phases. Factors such as participants’ experience with TTXs, the maturity of the incident response team (IRT), and overall TTX goals are considered in determining the level of facilitator involvement.
Engaging Presentation Techniques: To create an engaging experience, we employ presentation enhancement techniques throughout the TTX. This may include visual aids, interactive elements, and other engaging tools to keep participants actively involved and immersed in the scenario.
Hotwash Session: Immediately following the simulation, a hotwash session is conducted to gather participant input. This session provides an opportunity for participants to share their insights, identify strengths and gaps in the response, and extract key takeaways from the TTX. The hotwash session facilitates a constructive discussion that helps refine incident response capabilities and identify areas for improvement.
Lessons Learned TTX Report: Following the TTX, a comprehensive Lessons Learned TTX report is provided. This report is derived from detailed observation notes, insights gathered during the hotwash session, and other valuable feedback received.
Summary and Strengths: The report begins with a summary of the simulation, outlining key aspects and highlights. It provides an overview of the scenario and its execution, emphasizing the strengths identified during the TTX. These strengths highlight the successful aspects of the response and serve as positive reinforcement for effective incident handling.
Identifying Gaps and Recommendations: The report includes a dedicated section that focuses on identifying gaps in the response process. These gaps are derived from discussions held during the hotwash session and other participant feedback. Each gap is carefully described, ensuring clarity and understanding.
To address these identified gaps, the report provides recommendations aligned with incident response (IR) best practices and industry standards. These recommendations aim to improve various aspects of IR documentation, processes, and overall incident response capabilities. They serve as actionable steps to enhance the organization’s incident response posture.
Flexible Report Delivery: The TTX report is typically delivered in a written format, allowing for easy reference and documentation. However, if desired by the customer, an oral presentation format can also be provided to present the report’s key findings and recommendations. This flexibility ensures that the report is delivered in a manner that best suits the customer’s preferences and requirements.
Customized Scenario Development: Create a tailored scenario based on customer input, presented in a visually engaging slide deck format. This custom scenario will address specific concerns and requirements unique to your organization.
Comprehensive Participant Package: Provide participants with a comprehensive package that includes an agenda and other necessary materials. This package ensures that participants are well-prepared and informed about the tabletop exercise.
Expert-Facilitated Simulation: Lead the simulation with the guidance of an experienced facilitator who specializes in incident response. This expert will effectively guide participants through the exercise, ensuring maximum engagement and learning.
Interactive Hot-Wash Session: Conduct a post-exercise hot-wash session immediately following the tabletop exercise. This session allows participants to openly discuss and analyze the strengths and weaknesses of their response, leveraging the fresh recollection of the exercise. Facilitated discussions during the hot-wash session enable valuable insights and actionable improvements to be identified.
Technical TTX – Evaluate and enhance your incident response plan by focusing on the roles and responsibilities of your technical staff. This targeted exercise is designed for security managers, analysts, and other technical personnel.
Non-Technical TTX – Security incidents involve various teams within your organization, and it’s crucial to ensure they understand their roles and responsibilities in the response process. This non-technical or minimally technical TTX aims to raise awareness among participants such as Human Resources, Legal, Customer Communications, Finance, and more.
Executive Leadership TTX – Assess the roles and responsibilities of executive leadership during high-severity security incidents and evaluate their impact on the effectiveness of the incident response process. This TTX is primarily non-technical, but it can include technical details if requested by IRT Leadership. Target participants include Vice Presidents, Directors, and Senior Managers.
C-Suite TTX – Explore the critical roles and responsibilities of C-Suite executives in leading the company through a serious security incident. This simulation is non-technical in nature, focusing on strategic decision-making and executive-level responsibilities.
Popular Tabletops
Ransomware Attacks
In today's world, being prepared to respond to a ransomware attack is not an option, it's a necessity. The prevalence of ransomware attacks is on the rise and can cause significant harm to businesses, ranging from data loss to financial and reputational damage. Without proper preparation, organizations may struggle to recover from the impact. Testing your incident response plan is typically mandatory for businesses of all sizes to mitigate the risk of a ransomware attack.
Supply Chain Attacks
Supply chain attacks present significant challenges to organizations, including the difficulty of detecting the attack, assessing its impact, and identifying and responding to compromised systems and data. However, regular training through tabletop exercises can help mitigate these challenges by improving incident response readiness, enhancing detection and response capabilities, and fostering collaboration and communication among stakeholders.
Zero-Day Attacks
Tabletop exercises play a crucial role in mitigating the impact of Zero Day vulnerability attacks by improving incident response readiness, enhancing detection and containment capabilities, and minimizing potential financial loss and legal consequences. Through proactive training, organizations can protect their reputation, maintain operational continuity, and safeguard their critical assets and data from irreparable harm.
Insider Threats
Insider threats, whether malicious or unintentional, pose significant challenges to organizations in terms of detection and prevention. Employee mistakes or human error can lead to unintentional breaches, which can be just as damaging as deliberate insider threats. Regular tabletop exercises can help mitigate the impact.
Data Spills
Data spills can have a devastating impact on an organization, resulting in financial loss, regulatory penalties, and reputational damage. The consequences of a data spill can be severe, especially if sensitive customer or employee data is compromised. Through proactive training, organizations can minimize the potential damage of a data spill, safeguard their reputation, and protect the sensitive data of their employees and customers.
Breaches & Backdoors
Backdoor malware and network security breaches are ever-present dangers for organizations, with attackers constantly finding new ways to exploit vulnerabilities and gain access to sensitive data. By investing in proactive training, organizations can minimize the impact of such incidents, and protect their critical assets and reputation.
Custom Exercises
Our organization provides tailored tabletop exercises customized to specific industries, threats, and organizational concerns. Our experienced developers create impactful training experiences that strengthen security teams and improve incident response readiness.