Cyber Tabletop Exercise for a World-Leading Recruitment & Headhunting Organisation
Enhancing Crisis Preparedness & Executive Decision-Making
A world-leading recruitment and headhunting organisation recognised that cyber threats, particularly those targeting high-value executive data, intellectual property, and personally identifiable information (PII) of global leaders, posed a significant risk to its business. With cyber criminals increasingly targeting firms handling sensitive client information, the company sought to test its incident response capability, improve executive crisis decision-making, and ensure regulatory and client expectations could be met in the event of a significant cyber incident.
The firm's executive leadership and senior operational teams had limited experience in handling live cyber crises. With the risk of data breaches, ransomware attacks, and insider threats growing, there was a clear need to assess incident response preparedness, validate decision-making processes, and enhance cross-functional collaboration under pressure. Additionally, as a firm handling confidential executive data for some of the world's most influential organisations, it needed to demonstrate to clients and regulatory bodies that it had the resilience and processes in place to protect sensitive information.
We designed and delivered a high-impact cyber tabletop exercise tailored to the unique risks facing the recruitment and executive search industry. Working closely with senior stakeholders, we developed a realistic, intelligence-led attack scenario that simulated a targeted ransomware and data exfiltration attack mirroring real-world tactics used by cybercriminals to compromise confidential databases and extort organisations.
The exercise placed C-suite executives, legal teams, HR, IT security, and client relationship teams in a simulated crisis environment, testing their ability to respond to a rapidly escalating cyber incident. Throughout the session, we introduced live injects and evolving threat developments, forcing teams to make real-time strategic decisions on containment, legal and regulatory notification, client communications, and business continuity.
By creating a high-pressure but controlled environment, we enabled leaders to identify weaknesses in their response playbooks, improve coordination across departments, and refine external communication strategies. The exercise also helped executives understand the broader business impact of cyber threats, ensuring that security was seen as a core business risk, just a technical issue.
The results were transformational. The firm's leadership gained newfound confidence in its ability to handle cyber crises, with clear action points identified to enhance response procedures, improve internal collaboration, and strengthen external communication strategies. The exercise also provided critical insights into regulatory reporting obligations, ensuring that the company was well-positioned to meet global data protection and privacy requirements in the event of an actual incident.
By delivering a realistic, intelligence-driven cyber tabletop exercise, we helped the organisation move beyond theoretical discussions to real-world preparedness, ensuring that both executive and operational teams were ready to respond to a cyber crisis with confidence, speed, and precision.
Cyber resilience starts with leadership. Is your team ready? Let's talk.
