Ask any business about their preparation for dealing with cybersecurity threats and you will receive mixed responses. Some might admit they are ill-prepared to cope with cybersecurity threats while others might make bold claims that they are up for the challenge. Unfortunately, the latter fails to back up their claims when they become a target of cyber-attack. Did you know why? Because they don’t have an incident response plan.
According to a study conducted by IBM and Ponemon Institute on cyber resilient organizations, only 23% of the organization has a consistent cybersecurity incident response plan. What’s more, 54% of organizations that have an incident response plan rarely test it. That is why it is imperative not only to have an incident response plan but to test it regularly. Cyber Range Simulations are the best way to do that.
What is Cyber Range Simulations?
Cyber Range is a virtual environment that is used in cyber technology development and cyber warfare training. It provides tools that will help you to beef up your cybersecurity. Cyber Range simulations prepare your organization to deal with a cyberattack by putting your incident response plan to a stress test.
In this article, AntiDos will tell you about seven reasons why Cyber Range simulation is critical for your incident response.
7 Reasons Why Cyber Range Simulation Works
Here are seven reasons why cyber range simulations should be an integral part of your incident response plan.
- Test Your Incident Response Playbook
One of the biggest advantages of cyber range simulations is that it allows your business to identify loopholes in your incident response plan before cybercriminals can exploit it. It will highlight areas where you need more improvements. Additionally, going through cyber range simulations also help you know how your team responds to a cyberattack? Do they follow the cybersecurity incident response playbook or not? Do they have DDoS protected DNS? This will show you exactly how efficient your team is when coping with such situations. More importantly, you can also identify loopholes in your incident response playbook and fix them before anyone else exploits them.
- Mimic Sophisticated Attacks
What makes cyber range simulations stand out is their ability to replicate sophisticated cyber-attacks. Cyber range simulations leverage advanced artificial intelligence, and machine learning to mimic cyber-attacks. Your team can tell the difference whether it is a real or simulated attack hence, they are engaged.
It will also help you evaluate the effectiveness of your cybersecurity tools. If your cybersecurity tools are unable to protect your data stored on the servers from mock attacks, you can not expect them to protect your business from sophisticated cybersecurity attacks launched by hackers. This allows you to replace these tools with more efficient ones which are capable enough to protect your business from these cybersecurity attacks.
- Hands-on Experience
According to a study conducted by ISACA, only 2% of cybersecurity leaders believe that fresh graduates are ready to take upon cybersecurity challenges. You can bridge the talent shortage gap with cyber range simulations. It can also help you with internal talent development by delivering a hands-on experience. These incident response drills are tailor-made for every industry, which means that you can implement Cyber Range simulations irrespective of which industry you belong to. All you have to do is to customize it according to your business requirements and it will deliver the best results.
- Feedback from Experts
What’s even more interesting is that cyber range simulation put your cybersecurity team up against industry experts. These experts have decades of experience in responding to real-world threats and threat intelligence. Yes, your team might not stand a chance against those experts, but it will tell you where you stand in regard to industry parameters and benchmarks. Additionally, these experts will share their useful feedback with your team, which would help them learn a lot and improve. Nothing can substitute the type of advice you will get from these experts because they have been there and done that on a number of occasions so you can trust them.
- Test New Tech Before Implementing
Are you planning to implement a new cybersecurity solution or technology but not sure whether it is worth it or not? Ever wished there is a way to find out? Well, there is. Cyber range simulation lets you test new technologies before implementing them. It is a low-cost way to learn from failures and test new ideas and technologies.
Cybersecurity solutions and technologies that pass the test can then be scaled and implemented in your enterprise. Not all technologies are for everyone. You should also consider your business needs, create a feasibility report and then move towards the implementation phase instead of directly jumping into implementation. Most businesses don’t do that which is why they end up with a technology that they don’t really need and are forced into adopting the technology just because everyone else is doing it.
- Access To Performance-Based Data
Running cyber range drills can give you access to real-time performance-based data. This gives it a clear edge over other tabletop simulations. This data can be used to identify technical, communication and leadership strengths and weaknesses. With access to this data, security leaders can take quick action by showing it to stakeholders and speed up the process of bringing technical improvements to your cybersecurity systems. It also removes friction from the decision making process.
- Train Your Employees
The best part about cyber range simulations is that it not only benefits your IT and cybersecurity team but also benefit your non-trained staff. It targets business specialists as well and offers useful learning experiences to all employees belonging to different organizational units, whether they belong to finance or human resources. This way, you can train all the employees in your organization and prepare them to cope with the latest cybersecurity threats.
Do you have an incident response plan? If yes, then how effective is it? Have you ever tested it? Let us know in the comments section below.
Paul is an content marketing strategist and serial entrepreneur.