The cyber resilience continuum: Using fitness to learn how to improve your cyber security posture!

Matt Wilpers, a top Peloton Interactive instructor, nails it when he points out that the real difference between just exercising and training is all about having clear goals. Setting specific goals for your workouts is crucial if you want to push your limits. So, how do we establish those goals, and what motivates us to step it up? Hang tight and enjoy the ride!

I take a no-compromise approach to every part of my life. While juggling many priorities, staying in peak physical and mental shape is at the top of my list—it's the foundation for everything I do in life. After all, how can you excel mentally if your body isn’t in top form?

In this blog, I’ll share how I hit and keep hitting my fitness/activity goals and how these lessons can help boost a company’s cyber defenses. And yep, I’m totally on board and plugging Immersive !

I'm really into Peloton's power zone cycling and running classes because they offer a way to train that’s right for your fitness level. Both use benchmarks, like Functional Threshold Power (FTP) for cycling and 5K pace for running, which help to define where your body starts accumulating lactic acid, called lactic threshold. With the right nutrition and training, you can keep that pace going for as long as you want as long as you stay below your lactic threshold. The science behind this is solid—there are zones above and below these benchmarks that are super important for training. To adjust properly, it’s crucial to test yourself every three months; otherwise, you risk not performing your best or pushing too hard. Serious athletes always do fitness drills to ensure they’re on track.

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The benchmark idea is just as key in business as in fitness. Companies should constantly check their cyber fitness levels to spot areas for improvement. Every day should bring new chances for advancement, just like in fitness, where we recheck our cyber capabilities every three months to set baselines and find areas that need work. Cyber fitness isn’t a one-time thing; it’s an ongoing journey because things are constantly changing. Like our own fitness, the cyber landscape constantly shifts, with new threats continually popping up.

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That’s why bringing Immersive Labs into your cyber strategy is a must. Start by asking yourself: How fit is my cyber team today regarding people, processes, and technology? Do we have benchmarks in these areas? How has our performance been trending? Are we keeping up with industry leaders? Where do we need to improve? Ignoring the link between people, processes, and technology leads to silos, and that’s not helpful at all. Think about it: the average security setup has around 16 vendors and about 70 tools, inevitably creating separations. How do we effectively test and improve our capabilities across those divisions?

This is where the Immersive Labs Cyber Resilience Score steps in. It’s the top benchmark for determining a company's security strengths along the people, processes, and technology lines. It helps you baseline, fine-tune, and boost your organization’s cyber fitness, reducing the time it takes to detect, investigate, resolve, and respond to issues. Like physical fitness, cyber drills should happen every three months to keep improving and maintaining cyber readiness.

Having a no-compromise (within reason) mindset regarding fitness is critical; being complacent for me is not an option. There’s always room to grow—whether it’s upping your FTP for a higher zone, building your cardio strength, or nailing that tricky upwind kite tack. I use drills to evaluate my skills, focus on a few areas to improve in each cycle, and continue this gradual journey to mastery. The same rule applies to corporate cyber resilience; organizations must keep drilling and practicing to test, refine, and boost their security posture.

Making cyber drills a high priority is key to avoiding any threats. If there are any worries about cyber safety, let’s chat. I’m ready to dive into how we can strengthen your company’s cyber maturity and ensure it's prepared to handle today's challenges.