This article explains why it is beneficial for organizations to conduct Cyber Incident Simulations.
What is a Cyber Incident Simulation?
A Cyber Incident Simulation is the simulation of a security-related IT incident that is carried out as an exercise. Most commonly, this takes the form of a tabletop exercise, where the incident is discussed and managed purely on a theoretical level.
However, incident simulations can also be conducted as hybrid exercises.
In a hybrid exercise, realistic traces are placed within the organization’s IT infrastructure beforehand. During the exercise, participants must identify, analyze, and respond to these artifacts as they would during a real incident.
Another option is to conduct a Cyber Incident Simulation as a Purple Team exercise. In this scenario, a Red Team performs realistic attacks while the participants, acting as the Blue Team, must detect, analyze, and contain them.
This represents the most advanced form of Cyber Incident Simulation. Such exercises are generally recommended only for organizations with a mature security posture. Due to the additional effort involved, Purple Team simulations typically cost at least twice as much as tabletop or hybrid exercises.
How does a Cyber Incident Simulation work?
The first step is preparing the simulation.
CERTAINITY exclusively develops tailored simulations that are specifically designed around each customer’s environment and IT infrastructure. To achieve this, a considerable amount of information must first be collected.
We review existing documentation such as network diagrams, incident response plans, backup concepts, business continuity plans, and remote work policies.
In addition, we conduct interviews with key stakeholders to understand business processes, deployed technologies, and the organization’s typical operational procedures.
The second step is developing a realistic scenario based on the collected information.
The third step is running the actual simulation with the participants.
Exercises are usually conducted on-site and typically last between six and eight hours, including breaks and a final debriefing.
A Cyber Incident Simulation works similarly to an escape room.
Participants receive only limited information at the beginning of the scenario. From that point onward, they take the initiative by making decisions, investigating available information, and determining how to respond to the unfolding incident.
As the exercise progresses, new information becomes available, allowing participants to gradually solve the scenario while responding to changing circumstances.
The simulation concludes with a detailed debriefing.
The exercise is reviewed step by step, discussing questions such as:
- What could have been handled better?
- Which alternative response strategies would have been possible?
- Which decisions proved effective?
- Which challenges delayed the response?
The debriefing is complemented by a mutual feedback session.
Participants share their impressions of the exercise, discuss possible improvements, and provide feedback on the scenario itself. CERTAINITY’s facilitators, in turn, provide constructive feedback to both the team as a whole and individual participants, highlighting strengths as well as opportunities for improvement.
The fourth and final step is creating comprehensive documentation.
The customer receives a written report summarizing the entire exercise, the identified strengths and weaknesses, and the key lessons learned.
Most organizations use this report as the basis for defining concrete improvement measures.
Why are Cyber Incident Simulations valuable?
Many cybersecurity services—such as code reviews, penetration tests, and application security assessments—primarily focus on technical aspects.
A well-designed Cyber Incident Simulation expands this perspective by evaluating every aspect involved in handling a real security incident.
Organizational, operational, and technical challenges are all considered together.
A Cyber Incident Simulation can help answer questions such as:
- Does collaboration within the team work effectively?
- Are all participants familiar with the defined incident response processes?
- Are these processes practical under real-world conditions?
- Are the documented procedures actually followed?
- Are roles and responsibilities clearly understood and accepted?
- How does the team approach unexpected challenges?
- Are participants drawing the correct conclusions from the available information?
- How confidently do participants initiate appropriate countermeasures?
- Were there factors that delayed or negatively affected the incident response?
- What were those factors?
In hybrid exercises, additional questions can also be addressed, for example:
- Is the team able to investigate specific scenarios using the tools and resources currently available?
- Can specific attack techniques be detected and identified?
- Does the existing environment allow appropriate countermeasures to be implemented?
A Cyber Incident Simulation therefore provides organizations with a broader perspective on incident response. It helps create a more realistic understanding of all relevant aspects involved in handling a cyber incident while allowing the interaction between participants and different business units to be evaluated more effectively.
At the same time, participants practice responding to cyber incidents in an effective and efficient manner. Less experienced team members gain confidence in incident handling, while experienced responders have the opportunity to validate, refine, and improve their existing procedures.
What about the Return on Investment?
Because a Cyber Incident Simulation both improves the capabilities of the participants and uncovers opportunities for improvement, while at the same time providing valuable insight into the organization’s current level of preparedness, the return on investment (ROI) is typically very high.
What our customers say
The vast majority of customers who have conducted a Cyber Incident Simulation with CERTAINITY have been highly satisfied and subsequently decided to perform additional simulations.
“The tailored simulation addressed our specific requirements — including OT security — and has significantly strengthened our preparedness against current cyber threats.”
— CISO of a major energy provider
Participants also recognize the value of our Cyber Incident Simulations and consistently rate the exercises as a highly positive learning experience.
In particular, the hands-on elements included in hybrid simulations receive excellent feedback. Most customers express a desire for even more practical exercises in future engagements.
“I really enjoyed working together to investigate a realistic incident. Next time I’d love to have even more hands-on exercises where we can analyze and solve things ourselves. The explanations were clear and easy to understand.”
— Participant in a CERTAINITY hybrid Cyber Incident Simulation
By tailoring every exercise to the customer’s environment and using realistic attack scenarios, participants are challenged in a controlled setting. This approach makes weaknesses visible, reveals improvement opportunities, and helps organizations continuously strengthen their incident response capabilities.