Crisis Management
& Cyber Resilience
Prepare for the decisions that matter during a cyber incident. RTCS helps Australian organisations develop practical plans, run realistic exercises and prepare leadership teams for the moment systems are down, data is at risk or business operations are disrupted - before the incident, not during it.
- Cyber crisis planning and crisis management documentation
- Business Continuity Planning for cyber-specific scenarios
- Disaster Recovery planning, RTO and RPO review
- Incident response playbooks for the scenarios that matter
- Tabletop exercises for executives, boards and response teams
- Crisis communications planning and templates
- Regulatory notification planning
- Post-exercise debriefs and resilience improvement roadmap
A cyber incident is not only a technical problem.
A serious cyber incident affects operations, customers, regulators, suppliers, staff, executives and the board. RTCS helps Australian organisations prepare for cyber crises before they happen - practical plans, realistic exercises and leadership teams that know what to do when systems are down or data is at risk.
Technical recovery is one part of the response.
During a cyber incident, organisations also need to make decisions that are difficult under pressure - and easier when roles, processes and escalation paths have already been tested.
Who is leading the response?
Which systems must be restored first?
When should executives and the board be briefed?
What should be communicated to customers, staff and suppliers?
Are regulatory notifications required?
What evidence needs to be preserved?
How will the business continue operating during disruption?
Three plans. Different jobs. Same incident.
Incident Response
Handles the cyber event itself - containment, eradication, investigation and evidence. Pair with Incident Response Readiness.
Disaster Recovery
Restores technology services - backups, systems, dependencies. Deeper restore work in Disaster Recovery & Backups.
Business Continuity
Keeps the organisation operating while recovery is underway - manual workarounds, critical processes and dependencies.
Crisis Management
Coordinates the people, decisions, communications and stakeholders across all three. The layer above the technical response.
Keep operating during a serious disruption.
RTCS reviews or develops cyber-specific continuity plans that consider ransomware, data breaches, cloud outages, supplier failure, email compromise, system downtime and loss of access to critical platforms.
Restore technology services after disruption.
RTCS reviews recovery plans, backup arrangements, recovery objectives and restoration processes. For deeper backup architecture and immutable storage work, see Disaster Recovery & Backups.
Practise the crisis before it happens.
A tabletop exercise gives your team a safe way to practise a cyber crisis before a real event. RTCS designs and facilitates realistic exercises based on scenarios such as ransomware, business email compromise, data breach, cloud outage, supplier compromise or extended system disruption.
Exercises can be tailored for
Playbooks for the scenarios you'll actually face.
Incident response playbooks help teams act quickly and consistently during common cyber incidents. Each playbook sets out roles, actions, escalation points, communication requirements and evidence considerations.
Ransomware
Containment, isolation, recovery decision tree, ransom-payment policy, regulator and customer notification triggers.
Data Breach
Triage, scoping, evidence preservation, NDB scheme assessment, customer comms and regulator engagement.
Business Email Compromise
Account containment, mailbox rule review, financial-fraud response, finance and supplier comms paths.
Cloud Account Compromise
Identity containment, token revocation, blast-radius assessment across M365, Entra ID and connected SaaS.
Supplier Compromise
Third-party impact triage, contractual notification, isolation of supplier connectivity. Pair with Supply Chain Risk.
Lost / Stolen Device, Malware & Outage
Endpoint, malware outbreak and critical system outage playbooks for routine but high-impact scenarios.
Poor communication makes incidents worse.
RTCS helps organisations prepare communication processes for staff, customers, suppliers, executives, boards, regulators and other stakeholders.
For Notifiable Data Breaches scheme assessment and Privacy Act response planning, pair with Privacy Advisory.
Understand to Improve
A practical, staged resilience engagement that fits inside your existing operations and produces plans your team will actually use.
Review your organisation, critical systems, business processes, existing plans and key stakeholders.
Develop or improve crisis management, business continuity, disaster recovery and incident response documentation.
Run realistic tabletop exercises or simulations with the people who need to make decisions during a crisis.
Identify what worked, what failed, what was unclear and what needs to improve.
Provide practical recommendations, updated documentation and a prioritised resilience roadmap.
Who It's For & What You Receive
Who This Service Is For
- Need to prepare for cyber incidents
- Need a cyber-specific Business Continuity Plan
- Need Disaster Recovery documentation
- Want to test leadership decision making
- Need to run a tabletop exercise
- Need incident response playbooks
- Need clearer crisis communication processes
- Need board or executive cyber crisis prep
- Want to improve cyber resilience without complexity
Typical Deliverables
- Crisis management plan
- Business Continuity Plan
- Disaster Recovery Plan
- Incident response playbooks
- Tabletop exercise scenario
- Exercise facilitation
- Executive and board briefing material
- Crisis communications templates
- RTO and RPO review
- Post-exercise report
- Cyber resilience improvement roadmap
Where crisis management connects to the rest of the program.
Incident Response Readiness →
Technical incident response capability, retainers, IR playbooks and forensic preparation.
Disaster Recovery & Backups →
Backup architecture, immutable storage, recovery testing and resilience engineering.
Detection & Response Readiness →
SOC, SIEM and EDR readiness so incidents are detected early enough to matter.
vCISO & Security Advisory →
Ongoing executive-level security leadership across resilience, risk and governance programs.
Privacy Advisory →
Notifiable Data Breaches scheme readiness and Privacy Act obligations during incidents.
Supply Chain Risk →
Supplier compromise scenarios, third-party impact triage and supplier resilience review.
Governance, Risk & Compliance →
SOCI Act obligations, control evidence and board reporting that supports resilience claims.
Proactive Threat Hunting →
Find the precursors that turn into a crisis before they trigger one.
The worst time to test a crisis plan is during a real cyber incident. Talk to us about cyber crisis planning, Business Continuity Planning, Disaster Recovery planning, incident response playbooks or tabletop exercises.
Common Questions
What is a cyber crisis exercise?
A cyber crisis exercise is a facilitated simulation of a realistic cyber incident. It helps executives, boards and response teams practise decisions before a real event occurs.
What is the difference between BCP, DR and incident response?
Incident response handles the cyber event. Disaster Recovery restores technology services. Business Continuity keeps the organisation operating while recovery is underway.
Who should attend a tabletop exercise?
The right attendees usually include IT, security, executives, legal, risk, communications and business leaders. The exact group depends on the scenario and organisation.
Can you help with ransomware planning?
Yes. RTCS can develop ransomware response playbooks, run ransomware tabletop exercises and review recovery planning.
Can you help with regulatory notification planning?
Yes. RTCS can help prepare notification procedures for relevant requirements such as the Notifiable Data Breaches scheme, SOCI Act obligations and sector-specific requirements. For Privacy Act specifics, see Privacy Advisory.
Not sure what you need?
Use the enquiry form or email [email protected] with a brief summary. Include your organisation, the service area if known, and any timing requirements.