Practice being punched in the face. The realities of incident response preparation

This article emphasizes that incident response plans must be regularly exercised—via tabletop drills, red-team simulations, tailored playbooks, and worst-case scenario rehearsals—to build muscle memory and resilience for real breaches. It argues that untested plans fail under pressure, highlights the importance of trained and empowered people over tools alone, and illustrates benefits with a brief ransomware anecdote, urging organizations to transform potential crises into opportunities through preparation.