Virtual tabletop exercise
VTX, the Virtual Tabletop Experience.Practice the breach before it happens.
A tabletop exercise your whole team will actually show up for. Teams step inside a realistic cyber incident and work a fictional company's plan, policies and procedures against the clock.
Hosted or self-run · Full 60 minutes or Express 30 · Runs on CyberEscape Online
When cybersecurity attacks happen to responsible organizations, how do good leaders respond? They call a War Room.
Security teams at
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Why tabletops matter now
Tabletop exercises are now expected.Most reach a few people, once a year.
Boards, regulators, auditors and cyber insurers increasingly expect you to exercise your incident-response plan, including the business people who make the calls. Facilitator-led tabletops are costly, hard to schedule and driven by slides.
SEC disclosure rules · 2023
Public companies describe their cybersecurity risk-management processes and disclose material incidents quickly.
NIST SP 800-84 and SP 800-61
NIST guidance on exercise programs and incident response recommends exercising incident-response plans, and names tabletop exercises as one method.
DORA · EU financial sector
Requires incident-response and continuity plans to be tested.
NIS2
Places cybersecurity training obligations on management bodies.
Cyber insurers
Commonly ask whether your incident-response plan is tested.
Where VTX fits
VTX supports your incident-response training and exercise program, and puts the people who make the calls in the room to practice them.
These references describe the market. Your counsel decides what applies to you. VTX does not certify compliance with any regulation.
How VTX works
An incident response tabletop exercisethat runs like an escape room.
Gamified incident response training for any team, at scale. The team gets a fictional company, its incident-response plan and a clock. The puzzles do the rest.
-
01
Gather the team
Any team, any time: leaders, legal, comms, HR, finance, operations or the IR team. Hosted or self-run.
-
02
Step inside the company
Work from a fictional company's incident-response plan, policies and procedures.
-
03
Solve the incident
Scenario-based puzzles walk the team through the decisions of the first hours of a breach.
-
04
Beat the clock
Time pressure makes it feel like the real thing, and the team works the plan together.
Featured VTX experience: War Room
VTX War Room.From first alert to press release.
"When cybersecurity attacks happen to responsible organizations, how do good leaders respond? They call a War Room."
The incident arc
-
01
Investigate the incident: interviews
Interview witnesses and collect the first evidence.
-
02
Exploring the IR plan
Find what the plan says to do.
-
03
Ordering the incident response
Put the response steps in the right order.
-
04
Investigate the incident: search the office
Find what the interviews missed.
-
05
Consulting legal
Work out the legal and regulatory obligations.
-
06 · Full version
Stopping the rumors
Prevent leaks while the response runs.
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07 · Full version
Press release
Decide what to say publicly, and how.
Puzzle 3
Put the response in the right order.
The team reads the plan, argues about the sequence and commits. A step out of place costs time, the way it does in a real incident.
- Using the incident-response plan under pressure
- Containment before cleanup
- Telling an incident apart from a data breach
Puzzle 5
Consult legal before the clock runs out.
Who must be told, and by when? The team works from the fictional company's counsel memo and builds the notification plan together.
- Legal and regulatory obligations
- Gathering evidence and keeping a record of decisions
- Business-continuity communication
Compare
VTX vs. a traditional tabletop exercise
| Traditional facilitator-led tabletop | VTX |
|---|---|
| A few senior people, once a year | Any team, any time, at scale |
| Slides and discussion | Hands-on puzzles against the clock |
| Costly outside facilitator | Self-run or hosted |
| Hard to schedule | Book sessions like a meeting |
| "We talked about it" | The team has worked the plan together |
Runs on CyberEscape Online
Book a tabletop like a meeting.
VTX runs on the CyberEscape Online platform: the same scheduling, video and team play. VTX is an add-on to CyberEscape Online and is not included in standard CyberEscape Online licensing.
- Schedule sessions by timezone and capacity
- Email and calendar invites, or a public registration link
- Hosted or self-run, with any team
FAQ
Questions about virtual tabletop exercises with VTX
What is a virtual tabletop exercise?
A virtual tabletop exercise lets a team rehearse its response to a cyber incident online. VTX, the Virtual Tabletop Experience, makes it hands-on: teams work a realistic breach through timed, scenario-based puzzles, using a fictional company's incident-response plan, policies and procedures.
How long is a VTX War Room tabletop session?
The full version of VTX War Room is 7 puzzles in 60 minutes. The Express version is 5 puzzles in 30 minutes. War Room is rated Intermediate.
Who should take part in an incident response tabletop exercise?
Everyone who makes decisions in a breach: leaders, legal, communications, HR, finance and operations, plus your incident-response team and new managers. VTX is built for cross-functional groups that must make the calls but rarely rehearse them.
Is VTX a cyber tabletop exercise for executives?
Yes. VTX War Room is built around the calls leaders make in the first hours of a breach: what happened, what the plan says, the right order of response, what legal requires, how to stop rumors and what to say publicly.
How does VTX relate to SEC, DORA, NIS2 and NIST guidance?
VTX supports your incident-response training and exercise program. It does not certify compliance with any regulation or framework; your counsel and auditors decide what your program needs.
How do we buy VTX?
VTX is an add-on to CyberEscape Online and runs on the same platform, with the same scheduling, video and team play. It is not included in standard CyberEscape Online licensing. Individual War Room puzzles are also sold as standalone modules.
Get your leaders in the War Roombefore they need a real one.
See how VTX War Room takes a team from first alert to press release, in 60 minutes or 30.