BCDR Under Fire: Designing Realistic Cyber Incident Tabletop Simulations
Moving beyond gentle tabletop exercises to stress-test executive decision making, communications, and technical recovery under pressure.
Why Theoretical Disaster Recovery Plans Fail
Disaster recovery plans written by consultants often assume a clean hardware failure or power outage. A cyber catastrophe involves active adversaries, hostile extortion demands, compromised communications, and legal jeopardy.
Designing an Uncompromising Scenario
Construct realistic exercise scenarios: the ERP is encrypted, backups are targeted, customer PII has been leaked on the dark web, journalists are calling the CEO's mobile phone, and the primary email system is offline.
Evaluating Decision Deadlocks
The goal of a tabletop simulation is testing executive authority: Who authorizes shutting down factories? Who negotiates with regulators? Who approves external PR statements? Clarifying these escalation paths in peacetime prevents paralysis during an actual emergency.
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