Cybersecurity

Competitive Tabletop Exercises

Cross-organisation crisis exercising with benchmarking and peer learning.

Test readiness against a real crisis

We treat exercising as more than a box-ticking activity. Our Competitive Tabletop Exercises help leadership teams test how they would respond to a live cyber crisis, in a format more realistic and revealing than a solo exercise. We bring together a small cohort of comparable organisations to face the same crisis scenario at the same time, in separate teams, and each leaves with a confidential, benchmarked view of how they performed. The outcome is:

Improved executive confidence and muscle memory to respond to a crisis with far-reaching impacts
Exposure to alternative response approaches that reveal blind spots a solo exercise may miss
A confidential, benchmarked findings report with strengths, gaps and priority actions, plus board-ready outputs that support assurance and security investment
Access to the Elixirr Cyber Resilience Network, a peer community of senior leaders who share similar challenges and can support you beyond the exercise itself

Control built into how the agent operates

The gap between assumed readiness and actual performance in a cyber crisis is a human problem as much as a technology one. Most organisations have an incident response plan, but without testing how people execute it under pressure, that plan is little more than an assumption. Traditional tabletop exercises test one organisation in isolation, while real incidents involve suppliers, partners and the wider ecosystem, leaving many organisations overconfident in plans never built for a cascading crisis.

Tested under real pressure

We scope the exercise around your objectives and audience, design a realistic scenario grounded in genuine risk, facilitate and independently observe the exercise itself, and deliver a confidential, benchmarked report with clear, prioritised recommendations.

Typical applications include testing executive response to a major, cross-ecosystem cyber incident, upskilling teams on third-party and supply chain risk, and benchmarking crisis readiness against peers. It is equally suited to pre-regulatory or post-incident assurance exercises.

Participant data stays confidential throughout: the scenario is fictional and standardised, and findings are never shared outside your organisation.

Strengthen your response under pressure

A crisis plan is only as strong as your ability to execute it. Test your response in a realistic scenario, uncover blind spots and benchmark your readiness against peers.

Speak to our consultants today to put your crisis readiness to the test.