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Tabletop Exercise

What is Tabletop Exercise?

A discussion-based exercise where team members walk through simulated scenarios in a classroom setting. Tabletop exercises test incident response plans, business continuity procedures, and decision-making processes without activating real systems.

Information Security

What the standards actually require on tabletop exercise

Requirements naming tabletop exercise across 6 standards, quoted from the control text.

Advance planning with police, fire and other key stakeholders gives everyone clear expectations and limits. Where it can, the organization should cultivate links with police at all levels, national, state, local, tribal and territorial, bring them into its tra...

ansi-asis-wvpi-aa-2020-workplace-violence-and-active-assailant::A.2.4 · A.2.4 Emergency management liaisons →

The RMP must give the name, phone and email of the local emergency planning and response organisations with which the source last coordinated, the date of the most recent coordination and the federal or state emergency plan requirements that apply;

epa-risk-management-program-40-cfr-part-68::68.180 · § 68.180 Emergency response program and exercises (RMP content) →

Management selects exercise and test methods by size, complexity and business, using the more thorough methods to verify the plan's viability: full-scale exercises that recover business processes with full resources and validate internal and external interdepe...

ffiec-it-examination-handbook::BCM-VII.G · VII.G Exercise and Test Methods (Business Continuity Management) →
NERC CIP2 controls

Test each recovery plan at least once every 15 calendar months by recovering from an actual incident, a paper drill or tabletop exercise, or an operational exercise.

nerc-cip::CIP-009 R2.1 · CIP-009-6 R2.1: Test recovery plans every 15 calendar months →

Operate recovery capability aligned with FIPS 199 impact level + NIST RMF integration per NIST SP 800-34 Rev 1 Appendix F (Sample Plans per Impact Level) + Chapter 4 (Information System Contingency Plan Development).

NISTSP34-8 · Recovery Capability by Impact Level, RTO/RPO, and Integration with NIST RMF →

Conduct regular game days and tabletop exercises for credential compromise, ransomware and data breach scenarios to test plans, tools and team readiness.

SEC10-BP07 · Run simulations →

Questions people ask about tabletop exercise

What is Tabletop Exercise?
A discussion-based exercise where team members walk through simulated scenarios in a classroom setting. Tabletop exercises test incident response plans, business continuity procedures, and decision-making processes without activating real systems.
Why is Tabletop Exercise important for compliance?
Tabletop Exercise is a key concept in Information Security. Understanding tabletop exercise helps organizations meet regulatory requirements, reduce risk, and demonstrate due diligence during audits. Our compliance platform maps 1,016 frameworks with 316K cross-framework control mappings.
Which compliance frameworks address Tabletop Exercise?
Tabletop Exercise appears in the requirement text of ANSI/ASIS WVPI AA-2020 Workplace Violence and Active Assailant, EPA Risk Management Program (40 CFR Part 68), FFIEC IT Examination Handbook, NERC CIP, NIST Special Publication 800-34 Revision 1, Contingency Planning Guide for Federal Information Systems. Across these standards we have identified 13 controls that name it directly, each linked to the control text on the compliance platform.
Where can I learn more about Tabletop Exercise?
Explore our compliance framework pages to see how tabletop exercise applies across different standards and regulations. Our implementation guides provide step-by-step guidance, and the compliance platform offers AI-powered analysis of how this concept maps across 1,016 frameworks.

See how Tabletop Exercise applies across compliance frameworks

Our platform maps 1,016 frameworks with 316K cross-framework control mappings. Explore how this concept is addressed across standards.

Written and maintained by Gerard Blokdyk, The Art of Service.