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Cybersecurity

Practice the bad day before it happens.

A cybersecurity tabletop exercise is a guided, discussion-based walkthrough of a realistic incident. Your team talks through how they would respond, step by step, while Ridgepoint runs the scenario and notes where the plan holds and where it breaks. You practice the bad day on a calm one.

Discussion-BasedLeadership or Cross-FunctionalRealistic ScenariosFindings Report
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The Problem

Most response plans have never been tested under pressure

Most businesses have an incident response plan on paper. The hard question is whether the team actually knows what to do when ransomware locks the files on a Friday night. Who calls the insurance carrier? Who talks to customers? Who decides whether to pay? Who notifies the state, and how soon?

The time to answer those questions is on a quiet day, not during a real incident. A tabletop exercise gives your team a safe, guided run-through and shows you exactly where the plan needs work.

How It Works

What happens during an exercise

Ridgepoint leads your team through a scenario that unfolds in stages. We introduce each new detail, your team works through the response out loud, and we ask the questions that surface the gaps. Nothing is graded and no live systems are touched. Afterward you get a written findings report with clear, prioritized next steps.

What’s included

  • A short planning call to learn about your environment, team, and any existing response plan
  • A facilitated two-to-three-hour exercise with staged scenario updates and decision points
  • Your choice of format: leadership (executives, legal, HR, communications) or cross-functional (IT, security, operations)
  • Built-in scenarios for ransomware, business email compromise, and insider threat
  • Custom scenarios shaped to your industry and risk profile when you need them
  • A written findings report with a plain-language gap analysis and prioritized recommendations
  • A post-exercise debrief so the lessons stick while they are fresh

A single exercise finds gaps. A program closes them.

One exercise shows you where the plan breaks down. A recurring program helps you fix it and prove the improvement over time. Ridgepoint runs annual or semi-annual programs that rotate through different scenarios, so each session builds on the last and your team gets measurably more ready.

These programs can stand alone or fold into an ongoing advisory retainer.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

Ridgepoint presents a realistic incident scenario that unfolds in stages. As each new detail lands, your team talks through what they would do, who they would call, and what they would decide. Nobody touches a live system. It is a structured conversation, guided by a facilitator who keeps the pressure realistic and writes down every gap.

It depends on the format. A leadership exercise brings together the people who make decisions in a crisis: executives, legal counsel, HR, and communications. A cross-functional exercise brings together the people who carry out the response: IT, security, operations, and department leads. Many businesses run both over time.

The exercise itself runs two to three hours, including the debrief. Beforehand we hold a short planning call to learn about your environment and shape the scenario. You receive a written findings report within a week.

No. A tabletop exercise is discussion-based, so no systems are accessed or attacked. We describe the scenario and your team talks through the response. Think of it as a careful "what would we do if" conversation, facilitated and documented.

That is common, and an exercise is a good way to find out what your plan needs to cover. The findings report becomes the starting point for your first response plan. Many businesses use the results to shape their broader security work.

Next step

Want to talk it through?

Every engagement starts with a working conversation, not a pitch. We learn about your business, you tell us what’s on your mind, and we tell you honestly whether we are the right fit.

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