It's a normal working day – until suddenly everything changes. IT reports malfunctions, social media is buzzing, journalists are calling. A quiet coffee break? No chance.
Fortunately, in our case, it was only an exercise. But it was a tough one.
Why we practise for emergencies
Nowadays, stable business operations are inconceivable without reliable IT. And yet cyber attacks, power outages and natural disasters cannot be completely ruled out. To ensure that we are not caught off guard in such situations, we at DENIC eG are constantly working to strengthen our resilience and responsiveness.
In May and June 2025, we therefore conducted a comprehensive crisis management exercise – designed, prepared, carried out and evaluated together with the experts at HiSolutions AG. The goal: a realistic simulation to test how we as a company would respond in an emergency.
Bringing the crisis to life
To ensure that the whole thing didn't feel like a simulation exercise, the scenario was carefully prepared in great detail:
- Fictitious press articles that suddenly began circulating
- Simulated social media posts commenting on the situation
- Staged telephone calls that created additional urgency
The crisis team received a concise briefing in advance – then it was time to get started. The situation developed step by step, information poured in from all sides, and decisions had to be made under time pressure. In short, it felt pretty real.
Evaluation with added value
Feedback was collected immediately after the exercise. The result: lots of valuable tips on how processes, roles and interfaces can be better coordinated and how interaction can be optimised. The in-depth evaluation was incorporated into a final report with clear recommendations for action – a toolbox that helps us to act even more confidently in an emergency.
Our conclusion
The crisis management exercise has shown that we are well prepared – and we now know even more precisely where we can further refine our approach. Because one thing is certain: crises cannot always be prevented. But if they cannot be avoided, we should at least be able to face them calmly and in a well-organised manner.
Contact:
Daniel Kremer, CISO
Phone: +49 69 27235-0
E-Mail: security@denic.de
