Test your team. Strengthen your playbook. Respond with confidence.
Cyber incidents are fast-moving, high-stakes events that demand more than just technical response—they require decisive leadership, cross-functional coordination, and tested playbooks.
Our cyber crisis exercises simulate real-world threats like ransomware and data breaches to build your team’s confidence to lead effectively under pressure.
Cyber Crisis Exercise Overview
In today’s digital world, a cyber incident isn’t just an IT problem—it’s an enterprise-level crisis. Ransomware, cyber extortion, and data breaches can disrupt operations, damage your reputation, and trigger regulatory scrutiny within minutes.
At Bryghtpath, we help you prepare before the breach happens.
Our cyber crisis exercises are immersive, scenario-based experiences designed to test your organization’s response capabilities across executive, technical, legal, and communications teams. Through realistic simulations, we build the confidence, coordination, and crisis muscle memory your organization needs to lead with clarity when it matters most.
Why Cyber Crisis Exercises Matter
Cyber threats are evolving—fast. Yet most crisis playbooks, governance models, and executive teams aren’t built for the pace or complexity of a major cybersecurity event.
That’s where we come in.
Whether you’re preparing for ransomware, insider threats, or third-party breaches, we bring the realism and rigor needed to challenge your teams, uncover gaps, and elevate your readiness.
- ✅ Simulate real-world pressure in a safe environment
- ✅ Test executive decision-making under duress
- ✅ Align cybersecurity, legal, communications, and operations
- ✅ Meet evolving regulatory and board expectations
- ✅ Improve governance, escalation, and response plans
📉 Fact: Over 70% of companies we assess lack a tested, cross-functional cyber response capability.
Our Proven Process
Bryghtpath’s methodology has been used by some of the world’s most recognizable brands to build and mature their cyber crisis readiness.
✅ Diagnose.
We assess your maturity, threat landscape, and existing plans to pinpoint gaps and tailor every engagement to your industry, organizational structure, and goals.
🛠️ Design.
We create realistic, high-stakes cyber scenarios based on real-world threat activity, such as ransomware, extortion demands, insider threats, and regulatory reporting challenges. Each scenario includes strategic and tactical decision points, internal and external comms challenges, and critical escalation steps.
🎯 Deliver.
Our expert facilitators lead dynamic exercises with the right mix of pressure, realism, and collaboration. Exercises are adapted to your audience and goals, engaging executive leadership, cyber/IT, legal, comms, HR, and ops.
We offer:
- Facilitated Tabletop Exercises
- Simulation Exercises
- Tabletop Discovery Workshops
🔁 Evolve.
We provide a detailed After-Action Report with clear recommendations and prioritized next steps. We don’t just hand you a report—we partner with you to update your plans and playbooks, improve governance, and continue building resilience.
Cyber Crisis Exercise Services
We deliver tailored exercises to meet your needs—whether you’re testing a mature cyber response function or just getting started.
🧠 Facilitated Tabletop Exercises
Strategic sessions for executives, CISOs, and leadership teams.
- Walk through high-impact scenarios
- Focus on escalation, communication, and governance
- Engage your board or audit committee
- Highlight decision-making under pressure
🔥 Simulation Exercises
Immersive, real-time simulations to test full crisis response structures.
- Cross-functional coordination across IT, legal, comms, HR, ops
- Real-time injects and dynamic escalation
- Rehearse containment, communications, and recovery
- Aligns with regulatory expectations (e.g., FFIEC, HITRUST, NIST CSF)
🧩 Tabletop Discovery Workshops
Collaborative working sessions that surface gaps and solve problems.
- Used early in maturity journey or post-incident
- Helps connect cyber, legal, comms, and operational leaders
- Solves problems in real time
- Drive updates to governance and playbooks
Common scenarios we exercise/simulate include:
- Ransomware attacks and cyber extortion threats
- Data exfiltration with regulatory and reputational impact
- Insider threats and credential misuse
- Third-party vendor or SaaS platform compromise
Proven Results Across Complex Organizations
“Bryghtpath’s cyber exercise was a wake-up call. It exposed blind spots in our cyber incident response plan and gave us clear steps to close those gaps. The facilitation was sharp, fast-paced, and deeply credible.”
— CISO, Fortune 500 Financial Services Firm“We needed to test more than just IT—we needed to test our whole organization. Bryghtpath brought everyone to the table and ran a scenario that felt uncomfortably real. We’re far stronger for it.”
— VP, Enterprise Risk, Global Manufacturing Company
We’ve helped Fortune 100s, healthcare providers, manufacturers, and financial institutions elevate cyber readiness.
Strengthening Crisis Preparedness: A Leading Midwest Health Insurer’s First External Crisis Management Exercise
A leading Midwest health insurer partnered with Bryghtpath to conduct their first externally designed and facilitated crisis management exercise. This milestone initiative elevated their preparedness and established a stronger foundation for organizational resilience.
Ransomware Exercise for a Major Healthcare Technology Company
A major U.S. healthcare organization, seeking to practice their recently updated cybersecurity incident response plan, turned to Bryghtpath to conduct a multi-day complex crisis simulation exercise centered on a realistic ransomware incident.
Ransomware Exercise for a Major Healthcare Technology CompanyLearn More
Complex Cybersecurity Simulation Stresses Realism, Decision-Making, and Executive Integration
A multi-day immersive ransomware simulation tested real-time decision-making, executive engagement, and third-party coordination across a major U.S. healthcare technology organization.
Developing Ransomware Solutions for a leading Healthcare Technology Provider through Tabletop Exercises
A primary U.S. healthcare technology provider, seeking to develop new solutions to the challenges of ransomware and cyberextortion attacks, retained Bryghtpath to conduct tabletop exercises for their IT & technology product teams.
Why Bryghtpath?
You need a partner who understands both cybersecurity and crisis leadership.
At Bryghtpath, we’ve led hundreds of cyber and enterprise crisis exercises. We combine deep technical awareness with executive facilitation expertise—ensuring your exercise is not only realistic but strategically valuable.
- Led by Bryan Strawser, CISSP, MBCP—recognized expert in crisis & cyber resilience
- Proven methodologies: Crisis Playbook®, Exercise in a Day®, Resiliency Diagnosis®
- Trusted by Fortune 100 brands, critical infrastructure providers, and global firms
What sets us apart:
✅ Executive facilitation, not tech-only focus
✅ Tailored, industry-relevant scenarios
✅ Results that drive action and improve maturity
✅ Cyber + crisis = your full response in focus
Frequently Asked Questions
What makes a cyber crisis exercise different from a technical drill?
We simulate the enterprise impact—reputation, legal, communications, operations—not just the IT response.
Who should be involved?
CISOs, CIOs, legal, comms, HR, business leadership, and your executive team. Real-world incidents require whole-of-organization responses.
Can you run exercises for our board or audit committee?
Absolutely. We regularly facilitate cyber tabletop exercises specifically designed for senior governance groups.
How often should we do this?
We recommend at least one executive tabletop and one tabletop or simulation annually—aligned to your evolving threat landscape.
Do you help update playbooks or governance models?
Yes. Our After-Action Reports provide clear, strategic next steps—and we’re often retained to help evolve your cyber crisis framework.
Download a PDF of our Services & Capabilities Guide
Ready to Lead Through Your Next Cyber Crisis?
You’ll face a cyber crisis.
The only question is – will your team be ready?
Let’s prepare you to respond with confidence.