How to Write an Engaging Executive Summary for a Cybersecurity Report>
– Olivia Sullivan
When it comes to creating an executive report, cybersecurity staff often struggle with writing.
However, the executive summary is the most crucial part of the report as it is what stakeholders and decision-makers focus on to evaluate the document’s value.
To help craft an effective cybersecurity summary, the use of a template is recommended.
The executive summary should be simple, concise, and avoid technical jargon.
Its main purpose is to summarize security program efforts and address high-level security concerns of the leadership team.
A classic structure can be followed, or a more modern cybersecurity reporting style can be adopted.
To achieve this, structure your executive summary with the following headings:
– Key findings
– Security Risk Monitoring Summary
– Cyber Incident Summary
– Cyber Threat Summary
– Remediation Recommendations
The key findings section should summarize major threats encountered during the reporting period and highlight the remediation efforts made.
It should include specific examples of security incidents, such as phishing attacks, vulnerabilities, malware injections, access control abuse, data breaches, and physical security threats.
The security risk monitoring summary should assess risks and threats during the reporting cycle.
It should mention the areas of the IT ecosystem that were monitored, as well as the monitoring methodology used.
Key areas of focus for risk monitoring, such as network infrastructure, applications, endpoints, cloud assets, and third-party attack surfaces, should be highlighted.
The cyber incident summary provides a more detailed breakdown of the major security incidents and their remediation efforts.
It should benchmark risk management efforts against security policies and key metrics, and mention specific security controls that have prevented cyber incidents.
The cyber threat summary focuses on identifying emerging threats within the ecosystem, both internally and within the third-party network.
Mechanisms used to discover these threats should be described, along with any non-compliance risks with critical security regulations.
The remediation recommendations section summarizes the necessary processes for addressing emerging risks mentioned in the previous section.
If additional investment is required, approximate costs should be included.
Recommendations can include enhanced endpoint security, third-party security audits, compliance training, insider threat monitoring solutions, and advanced persistent threat defense.
To simplify the process of generating cybersecurity executive reports, customizable templates like those provided by UpGuard can be utilized.
These templates are designed to meet stakeholder requirements, include graphical elements and charts, and can be exported as editable PowerPoint presentation slides for easy board meeting preparation.
This classic structure is acceptable, but if you want to impress the leadership team, consider using a more modern cybersecurity reporting style in your next reporting cycle.Security Risk Monitoring Summary: Assessing Risks and Threats.
Link: https://zenithcitynews.com/cyber-security-report-example/