What PlayCISO is
PlayCISO is a simulation-first cybersecurity training platform for security leaders. Security engineers, managers, and CISOs use it to rehearse the hardest parts of the job — running a live incident, defending decisions to a board, passing a PCI DSS audit, and sitting a leadership interview — before facing them for real.
It is not a course, a video library, or a reading list. Every feature is interactive: you make the calls, and the system grades them. Every scenario is a mock — but the pressure and the feedback are built to feel like the real seat.
Who's behind this
PlayCISO is built to run itself. The scenarios, the grading, the board-report critiques, the mock interviews — all of it is AI-driven, generated and evaluated live rather than pulled from a fixed script. That's a deliberate choice: a product this personalized, where every session adapts to what you actually did rather than what the last person did, doesn't scale on a team of humans reading transcripts. The AI had to be the team.
Where the AI actually shows up:
- The War Room grades every decision you make in an incident and writes the after-action report from scratch, not a template.
- Mock interviews and board pitches run as live video conversations, not pre-recorded prompts.
- The board-report coach critiques what you actually wrote, line by line.
- Scenarios adapt to your weakest dimension instead of running the same fixed sequence for everyone.
PlayCISO is built and operated independently. Questions, bugs, or anything else — cyber.breach.space@gmail.com reaches a real person, not a ticket queue.
Frequently asked questions
What is PlayCISO?
PlayCISO is a simulation-first cybersecurity training platform for security leaders. Instead of courses or videos, every feature is interactive: you make decisions under pressure and the system grades them. Core features include the War Room incident simulator, a simulated PCI DSS QSA interview, live AI mock interviews, a board-report coach, security-architecture studios, and free security scanners.
Who is PlayCISO for?
Security engineers moving into management, security managers preparing for leadership interviews, and current or aspiring CISOs who want to rehearse incident response, board communication, and compliance before doing it for real. It is used by professionals across the US, UK, Singapore, Australia, India, Canada, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar.
What is the PlayCISO War Room?
The War Room is a cyber-incident simulator that puts you in the CISO seat during a mock security crisis — ransomware, supply-chain compromise, APT campaigns, and regulatory events modelled on real breaches. You make containment, communication, legal, and board decisions under time pressure, an expert panel grades your calls, and you receive an after-action report and a decision-persona profile.
Does PlayCISO help with PCI DSS?
Yes. PlayCISO offers a free PCI DSS toolkit: an interactive requirements checklist, an SAQ selector, a gap assessor, and a simulated QSA interview with an AI assessor that produces a Red/Amber/Green readiness report with a gap list and the artifacts you would need on audit day. It is preparation and practice, not a substitute for an assessment by a Qualified Security Assessor.
Is PlayCISO free?
PlayCISO has a large free tier — security scanners, the Budget Siege budget-simulation game, the PCI DSS toolkit, a free security scorecard, a learning library of free courses, and recorded War Room replays require no account or payment. The full product (War Room campaigns, studios, mock interviews, board-report coach) is available on a paid plan starting at $9/week.
What free security tools does PlayCISO offer?
Free, no-account tools include MCP Guard (scan Model Context Protocol servers for prompt injection), Package Scanner (detect malicious npm/PyPI packages), Prompt Scan (red-team LLM prompts), Model Audit, Extension Scanner, AI BOM, and a Resume Review tool — plus 120+ security architecture diagrams and a library of free courses.
How is PlayCISO different from a training course?
PlayCISO is not a course, video library, or reading list. It is a set of simulations where the outcome depends on the decisions you make. Every scenario is a mock, but the pressure, trade-offs, and graded feedback are built to feel like the real seat — the closest thing to the job before someone hands you the job.