The Ransomware Nightmare — Can Your Enterprise Contain, Communicate, and Recover?
Few threats strike fear into organizations like ransomware. When systems are locked, data encrypted, and ransom notes appear, executives and engineers alike are forced into impossible choices. Code Red, a CyberEd.io interactive, immerses participants in a ransomware outbreak scenario — from first alert through containment, negotiation, and recovery — testing whether your enterprise is truly prepared to face its worst day.
Code Red: The scenario
The simulation begins with a sudden explosion of endpoint alerts:
- EDR Logs: File encryption activity across multiple servers.
- SOC Dashboards: Unusual process execution (e.g., vssadmin delete shadows) indicating backup tampering.
- SIEM Alerts: SMB traffic spikes suggesting lateral movement.
Moments later, a ransom note appears on compromised endpoints demanding payment in cryptocurrency within 72 hours. Injects escalate:
- Mock Dark Web Post: A threat actor claims to have exfiltrated your sensitive customer data.
- Regulator Notice: A compliance authority reminds the company of mandatory breach reporting deadlines.
- Internal System Outages: ERP and email platforms go offline, disrupting operations.
- Board Inquiry: Executives demand to know whether ransom payment is being considered.
Participants must decide:
- Do they isolate entire networks, risking catastrophic downtime, or attempt selective containment?
- Do they communicate with the attackers — and if so, how?
- Do they notify regulators immediately, even before confirming exfiltration?
- How do they update the board, employees, and customers while systems remain crippled?
Code Red transforms ransomware from a theoretical “what if” into a visceral experience.
By forcing teams to act under pressure with realistic technical injects and business dilemmas, it builds the muscle memory and cross-functional coordination needed to withstand the most damaging cyberattack of our time.
Schedule Code RedLearning outcomes
Code Red gives teams a realistic crash course in ransomware response:
Technical containment skills:
Identify lateral movement, secure backups, and block attacker persistence.
Negotiation awareness
Explore decision pathways around ransom communications (with or without law enforcement).
Compliance readiness
Understand regulatory and contractual disclosure obligations.
Continuity management
Balance the pressure to restore operations with the need to preserve evidence.
Board/stakeholder communication
Practice briefing executives and regulators in the heat of crisis.
Threat intelligence application
Use real-time IOCs and threat actor profiles to guide faster, smarter response decisions.
Industry-tailored variants include:
Financial Services
Compromise of payment platforms with fraud implications.
Healthcare
Encrypted electronic health records with patient safety consequences.
Manufacturing/OT
Factory floor downtime costing your organization millions of dollars per day.
Government/Public Sector
Services locked by state-sponsored ransomware gangs.
Enterprise value
For enterprises, Code Red is a wake-up call and a proving ground:
- Tests Backup and Recovery Assumptions: Does your team know how to verify backup integrity under attack?
- Reveals Playbook Gaps: Do your IR documents specify ransomware-specific roles and decision chains?
- Validates Vendor & Law Enforcement Relationships: Do you know who to call for forensic, legal, or negotiation support?
- Quantifies Preparedness: Facilitators capture metrics like time-to-containment, communication clarity, and recovery confidence.
Delivery models
CyberEd.io offers Code Red in flexible formats:
On-site workshops:
Live facilitator-driven scenarios with ransomware evidence injects (logs, encrypted files, ransom notes).
Remote simulations:
Virtual platforms with secure inject delivery and interactive decision dashboards.
Hybrid format:
Combine executive in-room decision-making with remote SOC participation.
Custom industry tailoring:
Attack injects mapped to your systems, tools, and compliance obligations.
Post-exercise enablement
CyberEd.io ensures every Code Red simulation ends with actionable outcomes:
- Forensic Inject Packets: Annotated logs, malware samples, and simulated ransom notes.
- After-Action Reports: Detailed decision timeline and lessons learned.
- Performance Metrics: Mean time to detection, containment, and recovery scored against benchmarks.
- Playbook Recommendations: Updates for ransomware readiness, recovery, and communication strategies.
At-a-glance
Audience:
CISOs, CIOs, SOC leads, IR managers, compliance/legal, executive comms.
Duration:
3–5 hours depending on depth.
Difficulty level:
Moderate to advanced, adaptable for executives or technical staff.
Industry:
Finance, healthcare, manufacturing/OT, and government/public sector.
Format:
On-site, remote, or hybrid with custom tailoring.
Deliverables:
After-action reports, forensic injects, decision dashboards, updated ransomware playbooks.