Crisis Management Exercise for RSSI Students

The second-year Master’s students in Cybersecurity with CISO specialisation at ISTIC (University of Rennes), took part in a practical exercise day on cyber crisis management.

A Realistic Cyber Crisis Management Simulation

On Tuesday, 1st April, the apprentices faced a simulated crisis scenario in which a fictional local authority was dealing with a cyberattack. The students’ mission was to take charge of this crisis and ensure the organisation’s resilience in the face of the incident. The exercise was designed to replicate real-life conditions as closely as possible, allowing students to test and refine their reflexes in high-pressure situations. This type of simulation enabled them to gain a concrete understanding of how a cyber crisis unfolds and to grasp the immediate consequences of an attack on an information system.

Key Skills Put into Practice

Throughout the day, the apprentices took on key roles in crisis management, such as Chief Information Security Officer (CISO), Chief Information Officer (CIO), and Head of Communications, among others. Each student was thus immersed in specific responsibilities, ranging from analysing the attack to implementing technical and organisational solutions to respond effectively. One of the main objectives of the exercise was to work on crisis communication management and ensure compliance with regulatory obligations. The students learned to manage tensions, coordinate actions, and harness collective intelligence to overcome the challenges of a crisis situation.

The apprentices were able to put into practice everything they had learned over their two years of training, as they reached the final academic stage of their programme this week.