What is the key goal of performing a tabletop exercise in an incident response process?

The primary goal of conducting a tabletop exercise in the incident response process is to identify areas for improvement in the incident response plan. This type of exercise is designed to facilitate discussion among team members regarding each person's roles and responsibilities during a simulated incident scenario. By analyzing how the team responds to the exercise, organizations can uncover gaps in their procedures, communication, or planning that may not be evident during day-to-day operations.

Through the discussion and exploration of different scenarios, participants can provide feedback and insights that lead to refining and optimizing the incident response plan. This proactive approach helps improve the team's readiness and effectiveness when a real incident occurs, ensuring a more stable response effort.

While simulating a real-world security incident is part of the exercise, it serves primarily as a tool for evaluating and enhancing the existing plan rather than being the main goal. Gathering forensic evidence is a task more suited to actual incident response during or after a breach rather than during a tabletop exercise. Improving team coordination may be an outcome of the exercise, but it is not the primary intention—it's more about evaluating and enhancing the response procedures in place.