Interactive incident response simulator. Test your team's cyber crisis readiness.

It's 3:47 AM. Your phone buzzes. Multiple alerts. Systems are encrypted. A ransom note demands £150,000 in Bitcoin within 48 hours.

Do you know what to do first? Who to call? What not to do? How to communicate with clients? Whether to pay?

Most UK businesses have an incident response plan. But when we ask have you actually tested it under pressure? the answer is almost always no.

The hard truth about incident response

According to IBM's 2024 Cost of a Data Breach Report, the average time to identify and contain a breach is 248 days globally. However, organisations with tested incident response plans and regular training detect and contain breaches significantly faster.

For UK small businesses, the government's Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2024 shows the average data breach costs £53,000, with typical cyber security incidents costing £1,120–£3,230. The difference? How quickly and effectively you respond. A well-prepared response can contain costs to a few thousand pounds. Chaos and delays can push that into six figures once you factor in downtime, client loss, and regulatory penalties.

Source: UK Government Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2024, IBM-Ponemon Cost of a Data Breach Report 2024.

This is why we run a professional Table Top Exercise: an expert-led session that gives your whole team a realistic, pressure-tested rehearsal of how you would actually respond.

Why UK businesses need incident response training

The threat landscape for UK businesses has fundamentally changed. The UK Government's Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2024 found that 50% of UK businesses experienced a cyber security breach or attack in the last 12 months. Cyber insurance underwriters are demanding proof of incident response capabilities before issuing policies. And clients increasingly require evidence of incident response testing during due diligence.

But here's what makes this particularly challenging: incident response isn't just a technical problem. It's a leadership, communication, legal and business continuity problem all at once.

Common gaps we see in UK SMBs

Through our incident response consulting work, we consistently see the same patterns when businesses face their first real cyber incident:

• Decision paralysis. No one knows who has authority to take systems offline or engage external help.
• Communication chaos. Staff notify clients before legal review, triggering premature regulatory obligations.
• Evidence destruction. Well-meaning attempts to fix it quickly destroy forensic evidence needed for insurance claims.
• Backup surprises. Backups haven't been tested and turn out to be corrupted or incomplete.
• Escalation confusion. Hours wasted figuring out who to call when every minute counts.

The pattern: most of these costly mistakes aren't technical failures. They're procedural gaps that would surface immediately in a practised scenario. A single Table Top Exercise identifies these issues before they cost you clients, money or reputation.

The problem isn't that businesses don't have plans. The problem is that plans look very different on paper than they do at 3 AM when systems are down, clients are calling, and the board wants answers now.

"Incident response isn't just a technical problem. It's a leadership, communication, legal and business continuity problem all at once."

What happened to our free simulator?

We used to offer a self-serve 5-minute simulator that dropped you into a ransomware scenario. We have since folded it into our facilitated Table Top Exercise. Real readiness comes from your team making decisions together under pressure, not one person clicking through a quiz, so that is where we put our effort.

If you came here looking for the tool, the Table Top Exercise below is the proper version: the same scenarios, real feedback against NCSC guidance, run with your actual people.

Professional Table Top Exercise — £950

Awareness is a start, but real incident response requires team coordination. Our expert-facilitated 2–3 hour session trains your entire team through a realistic scenario specific to your industry.

What's included

Live exercise: we run an interactive scenario with your IT, leadership, legal and operations teams. Choose from ransomware, data breach, supply chain compromise, business email compromise or insider threat scenarios.

After the exercise:

• Detailed gap analysis of procedural, technical and communication weaknesses
• Prioritised action plan (30-day quick wins through 12-month strategic improvements)
• Decision matrix templates and communication templates for clients, ICO, insurance and media
• 90-day email and phone support during implementation

ROI: £950 vs £53,000

The UK Government's 2024 survey shows the average breach costs UK small businesses £53,000. Our Table Top Exercise identifies 15–20 critical gaps before they cost you in a real incident:

• Extended downtime prevented. Practised teams contain incidents 60–75% faster.
• Insurance claims protected. Proper evidence handling saves £20k–£50k claims.
• Regulatory compliance demonstrated. Required by many insurers, satisfies due diligence.

Perfect for: UK SMBs (10–250 employees) in professional services, financial services, technology, healthcare or any business holding sensitive client data.

Test your incident response readiness

Ready to see how your team would actually respond? Book a £950 Table Top Exercise for full team training and expert guidance, built around a scenario specific to your industry.