Cybersecurity is a trending business topic due to the incredible growth of the IT industry and the Internet. It affects almost every professional domain, whether in the business, healthcare, or financial sectors. Perhaps the biggest risk facing companies today is having their IT systems compromised in some way involving secure data – a very broad vulnerability. To limit or prevent harm, a company’s leaders can engage in “tabletop exercises” to run through common scenarios. These exercises engage leaders from the C suite, management, and technical leaders and try to overcome initial obstacles to promote better responses when crises inevitably occur.
This book is divided into two parts: the pragmatics of running a tabletop-exercise session and example scenarios to run through based on different audiences. Setting up a session (Part I) discusses things like who to involve, how to organize content, how to handle related politics, how to document, and how to arrange the room. These people-oriented topics engage leaders who want to ensure that the session executes properly.
As a software person, I found the example scenarios in Part II most interesting. They are divided for three audiences: technical, executive, and managers. The authors derive the scenarios from real-world events and suggest that readers adapt them for their specific industries and companies. They center around common cybersecurity threats like phishing, malware, and ransomware. Each provides a first draft of an outline to adapt and question prompts for discussion.
This book is specifically aimed towards cybersecurity professionals and leaders at their given institutions. As someone involved in software creation, I do not fit that audience. But like many others, cybersecurity deeply affects my work, and I grew from considering this topic in more depth, particularly by the example exercises in Part II. I doubt I will ever run a tabletop exercise, but perhaps I will be involved in one! Either way, I’m glad I thought through how this trending topic affects all of us.
Cybersecurity Tabletop Exercises: From Planning to Execution
By Robert Lelewski & John Hollenberger
Copyright (c) 2025
No Start Press
ISBN13 9781718503830
Page Count: 170
Genre: Cybersecurity
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