When the TALON cyber crisis exercise unfolded, one message emerged clearly for Restena: preparation matters, but people matter even more. For Dr Cynthia Wagner, Security Manager and Chief Information Security Officer at the Restena Foundation, the exercise provided a valuable opportunity to test not only procedures and processes, but also the organisation’s ability to work together under pressure.
“A crisis can happen at any moment.” Cynthia Wagner reflects. “Even if every crisis is different, being prepared removes some of the pressure.”
Measuring maturity, identifying opportunities
One of the key benefits of TALON was the chance to assess Restena’s internal crisis-management maturity. While the exercise highlighted areas where procedures could be strengthened, it also revealed unexpected opportunities for improvement. Most importantly, it confirmed that collaboration across teams was a real organisational strength.
“Crisis management is a team sport,” Cynthia Wagner says. “Trying to solve a crisis alone can only lead to failure. The most valuable lesson we took away from TALON is that our internal collaboration worked well.”
Realistic pressure, real challenges
The exercise scenario incorporated a fibre cut alongside the cyber incident, creating additional pressure for operational teams and making the experience feel particularly realistic. For Restena, however, the greatest challenge was not technical. “The communications part was the most challenging,” Cynthia explains. “Communication moves quickly, and keeping up with everything with a small team was quite difficult.”
The pace of information flow highlighted the realities organisations face during a major incident, where stakeholders, media channels and internal audiences all require timely updates.
Bridging the gap between technical and communications teams
One of the strongest lessons from TALON concerned the relationship between technical and communications teams. The exercise reinforced how essential close coordination is during a crisis, while also exposing a familiar challenge: different teams often speak different languages.
“Coordination between technical and communication teams is critical,” Cynthia Wagner notes. “Both teams do not necessarily speak the same language.”
Interestingly, Restena found that keeping communications representatives embedded within the crisis coordination cell helped maintain alignment throughout the exercise. While there were occasional challenges translating technical information into non-technical language, cross-organisational message alignment was not a significant issue.
“The crisis coordination cell remained together throughout the exercise, including communications, and that was actually a strength.”
Revealing areas for improvement
TALON also highlighted areas where processes could be strengthened. The exercise demonstrated that improvements can be made in crisis coordination and communications management. One particularly important observation was that a single individual cannot effectively manage all media and communication channels during a fast-moving incident. This insight is already informing future improvements, with modifications planned for Restena’s internal processes.
Lessons for the first 24 Hours
“Have your team ready and have plans available to put into action when needed.”
It is a simple principle, but one that sits at the heart of effective crisis response. Technology, processes and procedures all play critical roles, but success ultimately depends on having prepared people who can work together when it matters most.
For Restena, TALON reinforced exactly that: resilience is built not only through planning, but through collaboration.
