The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) is a GCHQ section and is the UK’s technical authority for cyber threats. The NCSC, created in 2016, is part of the Government’s five-year National Cyber Security Strategy. Its Annual Review considers key developments and highlights from the NCSC’s work from September 2019 and August 2020. One of the groups methods for helping prepare the UK against cyber threats is the launch of its Exercise in a Box online preparedness and resilience tool.
Eventura provided testing and feedback to the NCSC Exercise in a Box team and was mentioned in the National Cyber Security Centre – Annual Review 2020, which can be read online here or downloaded as a PDF.
What is the NCSC’s Exercise in a Box?
The NCSC’s Exercise in a Box is a toolset enabling organisations to run tabletop and micro-exercises on cyber incidents or attacks. It offers an organisation the ability to find out, in a safe environment, how prepared and resilient they are against cyber threats—allowing them to practice responses to critical events. Reporting helps them understand where they are most at risk and where they need to improve and how they can better manage these situations.
Eventura runs cybersecurity exercises internally, and with customers who want to experience and learn so, they can be properly prepared for the worst. It’s a bit like dungeons-and-dragons for businesses who want to experience cybersecurity, we all hear about it in the news but what it looks like in real life when a company is hit can be very different and crippling for them. An exercise can be structured around several senior business owners or execs attending a tabletop exercise in one of our on-site cyber training suites. We would show them, for example, what might happen during a ransomware attack, if a mobile asset is stolen or if there is a supply chain data breach. We can then help them better assess how prepared or resilient they are.
As a result of running these events, we speak to the NCSC research team asking how it went and what works or doesn’t. Eventura recently did a live exercise with NCSC on the call observing. It allowed us to help test new scenarios, assess the portal’s design, and provide valuable feedback from SMEs in their use of the tools, including recommendations on the questions and steps in it – for example: “was this one techy?”.
Eventura Cybersecurity Services
Eventura has three offices in the UK and a European office in Malta. It is committed to helping SMEs stay safe and compliant and making the whole connected world safer for everyone. Our team of professionals can help businesses assess risk, plan for worst-case scenarios and take proactive and precautionary measures, to reduce risk internally, externally and beyond. We can help avoid and mitigate the effects of serious issues that can be crippling to businesses, but that can, in most cases, be avoided. We can test your existing plans, systems and staff education and support you and them by offering ongoing monitoring and up to date threat-awareness training.
If you would like to speak to a cybersecurity expert today, who can help you assess your risks, then please get in touch or call us on 0333 240 9945.
