News

NCSC has launched a new Cyber Incident Exercising scheme, giving organisations access to NCSC assured exercising providers for the first time.

In August, the NCSC announced CREST and IASME as Delivery Partners for the scheme, to manage the assessment on behalf of the NCSC, and to onboard the assured exercising service providers.

With a number of Assured Service Providers now in place, the scheme is open for business. A list of service providers can be found on the Cyber Incident Exercising scheme page: Find an assured Cyber Incident Exercising provider

The new CIE Scheme provides organisations with access to NCSC assured CIE service providers able to create bespoke, structured table-top or live-play cyber incident exercises.  It sits alongside the NCSC’s free and easy to use Exercise in A Box tool that allows testing of incident response against a host of generic cyber incident scenarios. Assured Cyber Incident Exercising companies will work alongside, challenge and help organisations to robustly practise their responses in a safe environment.

The scheme assures companies to deliver two types of cyber exercises:

• Table-Top – discussion-based sessions where participants talk about their roles and responsibilities, activities and key decision points (in line with their organisation’s incident response plan) for a pre-agreed scenario.
• Live-Play – sessions where participants carry out their roles and responsibilities in close to real time, in response to a controlled feed of information, representing a pre-agreed scenario. Live play exercises are best suited to mature organisations looking for in-depth validation of plans.

The exercises are designed to simulate incidents which have a significant impact on a single client organisation. The scheme does not cover category 1 and category 2 incidents, as defined by the UK cyber incident categorisation system.

Speaking of the new scheme, NCSC Director of Operations Paul Chichester said:

“I’ve often said the first time you try out your cyber incident response plan shouldn’t be on the day you are attacked. So if you do only one thing on a regular basis, incident exercising should be it. That’s why I’m delighted that the NCSC’s Cyber Incident Exercising scheme is now open and buyers can use it to find trusted providers that can help you prepare for when the worst happens. Exercising in a safe and supportive environment will allow all the relevant teams and individuals to properly understand their roles and maximise their effectiveness during an incident. In turn this will help to minimise harm and improve the resilience of both individual organisations and the UK as a whole.” 

CREST Head of Accreditation, Jonathan Armstrong, said:

“CREST is committed to ensuring the highest standards across the cyber security industry and  to supporting buyers through the NCSC’s scheme. Using Assured Providers will ensure they are getting the services they need from credible suppliers who meet both ours and NCSC’s high standards.”

Dr Emma Philpott MBE, CEO of IASME, said:

“We are thrilled to partner with NCSC to help deliver the Cyber Incident Exercising Scheme. Practicing what you would do in the event of a cyber security incident with the support of an experienced, expert team significantly enhances the resilience of any business. This initiative helps organisations of all sizes to identify the most suitable provider to work with, knowing that they are assured under the NCSC scheme.”

For more information about the scheme and how to apply go to:

CREST: NCSC Cyber Incident Exercising Scheme – CREST

IASME:  NCSC Cyber Incident Exercising – Iasme