911±¬ÁÏ

Every bank has an incident response plan. Few have watched it work.

The plan lives in a binder or a shared drive. It says who makes the call, who escalates, who talks to customers, and who talks to regulators.

Then a phishing email gets through. Ransomware starts moving. The people named in that plan have minutes to act on pages many of them haven't opened since the last review.

That is when you find out whether the plan works.

And when an examiner or auditor asks how you know your plan works, "we wrote one" is a hard answer to defend.

Charlesbridge Group decided to find out before an attacker did.

Two teams. Two simulations. One tested plan.

Charlesbridge Group brought both its executive leadership and its technical team to the BSU Cyber Range.

Each team ran its own exercise. Leadership tested the decisions at the top of the response. The technical team worked the attack itself. Together, the two exercises covered both sides of how a bank responds when something goes wrong.

Executive leadership: Test the plan

The executive team, including the CEO, CTO, CIO, CMO, and leaders from risk, legal and compliance, took Charlesbridge's existing Incident Response Plan (IRP) into a realistic crisis scenario.

The goal was simple. See how the plan holds up when real people use it under pressure. 

Technical team: Respond to the attack

The technical team took on a phishing-to-ransomware attack on the Immersive Labs platform, an enterprise-grade cyber proving ground.

The simulation was modeled on Charlesbridge's own environment, including its email and collaboration platform, endpoint protection, and managed detection service. The team responded to an attack running through the same kinds of systems they manage every day. 

Documented evidence of IRP testing and readiness for examiners and auditors

• Hands-on validation of its incident response capabilities
• Practical experience responding to a realistic cyberattack
• Stronger communications across teams
• Follow-up recommendations from experts to strengthen its response

"One of the best investments we've made" 

About the BSU Cyber Range

The BSU Cyber Range is a 1,900 square foot state-of-the-art training facility at 911±¬ÁÏ which includes access to the Immersive Labs platform and expert trainers and facilitators. Teams practice detecting, responding to, and recovering from cyberattacks in real time, in a controlled setting.

For financial institutions, the Range runs two tracks. Senior leaders work on decision-making, continuity, and communication under pressure. IT and security teams work hands-on detection, containment, and recovery.

Every engagement starts with a review of the organization’s policies, critical systems, and past incidents, so the scenario reflects how the institution actually runs. It ends with a summary report covering strengths, areas to improve, and next steps.

The BSU Cyber Range is part of CyberTrust Massachusetts, a statewide network of cyber training centers. Learn more about training for financial institutions.

Test your plan. Train your team. Strengthen your response.

Contact Us Directly