Cyber readiness exercises

Ransomware resilience,
tested before it matters.

A realistic, facilitated simulation puts your plans, decisions, communications, and recovery assumptions under pressure, revealing practical improvements before a sophisticated attack becomes real.

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Preparedness in practice

A response plan is only useful if the organisation can execute it.

Ransomware is not solely an IT incident. It can interrupt operations, expose sensitive data, trigger legal and regulatory duties, damage customer confidence, and force difficult decisions under severe time pressure.

Our exercises place leadership, technical, legal, communications, and operational teams inside a controlled scenario. As the situation develops, participants must assess incomplete information, establish command, manage competing priorities, and communicate with the people who need to act.

The aim is constructive: to expose gaps, build shared understanding, and leave the organisation with an achievable improvement plan.

Exercise lifecycle

Design, simulate, learn, improve

01Understand the organisationWe review critical operations, key systems, existing plans, decision-makers, dependencies, objectives, and the maturity of current arrangements.

02Build the scenarioA credible ransomware narrative and timed injects are tailored to your sector, threat profile, technology, and exercise audience.

03Facilitate the responseParticipants work through an evolving incident while facilitators observe decisions, escalation, coordination, communication, and recovery planning.

04Turn learning into actionA structured debrief and findings report identify strengths, vulnerabilities, owners, priorities, and practical improvements.

What the exercise tests

The whole response, not one team in isolation

The exercise scope is matched to your objectives and can focus on executive decisions, operational coordination, technical response, or all three.

Leadership

Command & decision-making

Test authority, escalation, risk assessment, business priorities, ransom-related governance, and the quality of decisions made with incomplete information.

Response

Containment & continuity

Examine technical coordination, evidence preservation, critical-service continuity, dependencies, backup assumptions, and realistic recovery priorities.

Trust

Legal & communications

Explore regulatory and contractual considerations, insurer and adviser engagement, internal updates, customer messaging, and media handling.

Exercise outcomes

A stronger response the organisation understands.

Validated roles, responsibilities, and escalation paths
Clearer executive and technical decision-making
Identified weaknesses in plans and dependencies
Tested internal and external communications
Practical, prioritised remediation actions
Greater confidence and shared situational awareness

Findings are presented in proportion to the exercise, with observations tied to evidence from the simulation and actions allocated for follow-through.

Flexible delivery

Built around your risk and maturity

Executive

Leadership tabletop

A focused, discussion-led exercise for board members and senior leaders, centred on governance, decisions, risk, and communication.

Integrated

Cross-functional simulation

An evolving scenario involving leadership, security, IT, legal, communications, operations, and other critical stakeholders.

Improvement

Review & retest

Targeted follow-up to assess remediation, rehearse revised arrangements, and build a repeatable exercising programme.

FAQs

Ransomware resilience questions

Is this a live attack on our systems?

The core service is a controlled, facilitated simulation. It tests people, decisions, coordination, and plans without introducing malware or disrupting production systems. Any technical testing would require a separately agreed and controlled scope.

Who should participate?

Depending on the objective, participants may include board members, executive leaders, cyber security, IT, operations, legal, risk, compliance, communications, HR, finance, and relevant external advisers.

Will the scenario reflect our organisation?

Yes. We tailor the scenario to your sector, operational dependencies, threat profile, existing response arrangements, and the capabilities you most need to test.

What do we receive afterwards?

Delivery normally includes a facilitated debrief and a report setting out observed strengths, gaps, priority actions, and suggested owners. The exact level of detail is agreed during scoping.

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Our other services

Related investigative services for matters involving hidden wealth, digital assets, financial risk, and criminal disputes.

Ransomware resilience

Rehearse the difficult decisions now.

Tell us what you need to test, who needs to participate, and how mature your current arrangements are. We will design a proportionate exercise around your organisation.

Discuss an exercise