Oct 2022
Exercise your cyber security
Cyberattacks have continued to rise on three fronts; the number of attacks orchestrated, the level of sophistication demonstrated, and the impact inflicted.
Senior Information Security Consultant
According to SonicWall, ransomware attacks increased by 105% in 2021, and the explosive growth of strategies such as double and even triple extortion ensured that these attacks were more successful.
This increased complexity has brought about a real-time shift in mindset from cybersecurity to cyber resilience; not only defending against cyberattacks but preparing for swift and timely response and recovery when an attack does occur.
Defending against sophisticated ransomware, attacks on the digital supply chain, and exploitation of deep-rooted vulnerabilities are just some of today’s security challenges that require organisations to move beyond defending against cyberattacks, into establishing a readiness to respond to and recover from a cyber incident should one occur.
Placing cyber resilience at the core of every organisation’s cyber security strategy is key, and one way to do this is by creating a regular schedule of cyber desktop exercises. These aim to examine your cyber incident processes, responses to and recovery from incidents, resuming operations with minimal disruption.
Objectives of the desktop exercises
- Increase team awareness of cybersecurity including risk management, planning and the threat landscape related to prevention, protection, response and recovery of critical system assets
- To evaluate incident response processes for suitability and effectiveness
- To evaluate leadership process knowledge and capability to timely implement the technical steps
- To Identify areas of further improvement in the incident response processes
What happens during a desktop exercise?
Why use these exercises?
Cyber exercising is a key method of testing both the technical infrastructure and user training of an organisation to ensure it is up to scratch in the event of a cyberattack. These exercises can be used as a tool to identify gaps and begins an open discussion for future improvement.
Cyberattacks are a case of ‘when’, not ‘if’, and you are unsure of your organisation’s cyber resilience structure, contact the team today to find out how we can help.