The article argues that in 2026 cyber incidents should be treated as enterprise-wide crises, not just technical outages. Because modern incidents often involve ransomware deadlines, SaaS/identity compromise with limited visibility, third-party/supply-chain spillover, and high-pressure executive decisions, a “one-size-fits-all” tabletop exercise no longer prepares everyone adequately. Instead, the author recommends role-specific, outcome-driven simulations so each stakeholder group (execs, IR team, SOC/IT, legal/comms/HR/ops) can rehearse the decisions and coordination they will actually face.

It then lays out several tabletop formats and when to use each: Operational exercises to test end-to-end execution and cross-team coordination; Executive exercises to practice strategic calls like risk appetite, regulatory exposure, and ransom decisions; Technical exercises to stress detection/containment/recovery sequencing; plus shorter executive briefing/awareness sessions for baseline knowledge and an executive cyber crisis awareness session focused on leadership behavior under pressure. The post suggests high-performing organizations combine these in a maturity path—starting with awareness, then validating operational processes, then testing technical capabilities, and finally running realistic executive decision rehearsals—ideally tailored to the organization’s threat context and regulatory environment.

Source: https://www.cm-alliance.com/cybersecurity-blog/practical-guide-to-different-types-of-cyber-tabletop-exercises-in-2026