Rehearsal Intelligence: Using Digital Twins for Crisis Readiness
Carolyn Geason-Beissel/MIT SMR | Getty Images In July 2024, the cybersecurity software company CrowdStrike pushed a routine but buggy software update to its platform. In the ensuing 78 minutes, before a patch was deployed, IT systems worldwide crashed. Microsoft estimated that 8.5 million Windows devices were affected. As blue screens of death cascaded across the […]
In July 2024, CrowdStrike's software update caused widespread IT system crashes affecting 8.5 million Windows devices. The incident resulted in over $5.4 billion in losses for Fortune 500 companies. Six months prior, Change Healthcare experienced a ransomware attack, leaving nearly all U.S. pharmacies, hospitals, and healthcare providers unable to process insurance claims and exposing personal health data of up to one-third of Americans, costing UnitedHealth Group $2 billion in the first half of 2024.
McKinsey suggests that 70% of C-suite technology executives are exploring digital twins for optimizing operations and decision-making. However, a recent ASIS Europe 2026 conference revealed that most organizations are not using digital twins for crisis simulation. Only 5% reported conducting simulations continuously with live data or digital tools.
The majority conduct crisis simulations annually through tabletop exercises, which have limitations including pre-constructed scenarios, episodic nature, and testing the team rather than the system. This strategic gap has cost organizations billions of dollars and risks further losses.
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