<!-- Copyright (c) 2026 defconxt. All rights reserved. -->
<!-- Licensed under AGPL-3.0 — see LICENSE file for details. -->
---
name: performing-executive-security-reporting
description: >-
  Executive-level security reporting for SOC operations including risk posture
  summaries, incident trend analysis, compliance status dashboards, ROI
  justification for security investments, board-ready presentations, and
  metric visualization across Splunk, Elastic, and business intelligence
  platforms.
domain: cybersecurity
subdomain: soc-operations
tags:
  - executive-reporting
  - soc
  - risk-posture
  - compliance
  - dashboard
  - metrics
  - board-reporting
  - ciso
version: "1.0"
author: defconxt
license: AGPL-3.0
metadata:
  mitre-attack: []
---

# Performing Executive Security Reporting

## Overview

Executive security reports translate SOC operational data into business-
relevant risk narratives. Executives need to understand current risk posture,
trend direction, incident impact, and investment effectiveness—not raw alert
counts. This skill covers report design, metric selection, and presentation
techniques that drive informed security decisions.

## Prerequisites

| Requirement | Purpose |
|---|---|
| SOC metrics data (90+ days) | Trend analysis |
| SIEM reporting capability | Metric extraction |
| Business context (revenue, assets) | Risk quantification |
| Presentation platform | Report delivery |

## Key Concepts

### Executive Report Structure

```
EXECUTIVE SECURITY REPORT SECTIONS:
├── Executive Summary — 1 paragraph, key takeaways
│   Risk posture change, notable incidents, action items
├── Risk Posture Dashboard — Visual risk status
│   Overall risk score, trend arrow, heat map
├── Incident Summary — Business impact focus
│   Count by severity, MTTR, cost estimate, root cause themes
├── Threat Landscape — External context
│   Industry threats, exploited vulnerabilities, actor activity
├── Detection & Response Performance — Operational health
│   MTTD, MTTR, SLA compliance, alert fidelity trends
├── Compliance Status — Regulatory posture
│   Framework scores, audit findings, remediation progress
├── Investment Effectiveness — ROI demonstration
│   Tools, team, training — measurable improvement
└── Recommendations — Prioritized action items
    Risk-ranked, business-justified, timeline attached
```

### Risk Score Calculation

```
ORGANIZATIONAL RISK SCORE (0-100):
  Components:
    Incident Impact (30%)  — severity-weighted incident count
    Detection Coverage (25%) — ATT&CK technique coverage %
    Vulnerability Exposure (20%) — critical unpatched CVEs
    Compliance Posture (15%) — framework compliance %
    Threat Landscape (10%) — industry threat level

  Trend Indicators:
    ↑ Improving (score decreased 5+ points)
    → Stable (score within ±5 points)
    ↓ Degrading (score increased 5+ points)
```

### Splunk Executive Dashboard Queries

```spl
-- Monthly incident summary by severity
index=notable status="closed"
| eval month=strftime(_time, "%Y-%m")
| stats count by month, urgency
| xyseries month, urgency, count

-- MTTR trend (monthly, 12 months)
index=notable status="closed" earliest=-12mon
| eval mttr_hours=(resolve_time-_time)/3600
| eval month=strftime(_time, "%Y-%m")
| stats avg(mttr_hours) as avg_mttr, median(mttr_hours) as med_mttr by month
| sort month

-- Detection coverage score
| inputlookup attack_matrix_coverage.csv
| stats count(eval(has_detection="true")) as covered,
    count as total
| eval coverage_pct=round(covered/total*100,1)

-- Alert fidelity trend
index=notable earliest=-6mon
| eval month=strftime(_time, "%Y-%m")
| eval is_tp=if(status_label LIKE "%True Positive%", 1, 0)
| stats sum(is_tp) as tp, count as total by month
| eval fidelity_pct=round(tp/total*100,1)
```

### Sentinel KQL Executive Queries

```kql
// Monthly incident severity distribution
SecurityIncident
| where TimeGenerated > ago(365d) AND Status == "Closed"
| summarize Count=count() by Severity, Month=startofmonth(TimeGenerated)
| render columnchart

// Response time trend
SecurityIncident
| where TimeGenerated > ago(365d) AND Status == "Closed"
| extend MTTR=datetime_diff("hour", ClosedTime, CreatedTime)
| summarize AvgMTTR=avg(MTTR), P90_MTTR=percentile(MTTR, 90)
    by Month=startofmonth(TimeGenerated)
| sort by Month asc
```

### Report Audience Mapping

```
AUDIENCE → CONTENT FOCUS:
  Board of Directors:
    Risk posture trend, material incidents, regulatory compliance,
    investment ROI | Frequency: Quarterly

  CISO / CTO:
    Operational metrics, threat landscape, team capacity,
    tooling effectiveness | Frequency: Monthly

  VP Engineering:
    Vulnerability trends, secure development metrics,
    incident root causes in code | Frequency: Monthly

  Compliance / Legal:
    Framework scores, audit status, data breach metrics,
    regulatory changes | Frequency: Monthly

  SOC Manager:
    Full operational dashboard, analyst performance,
    detection coverage, tuning backlog | Frequency: Weekly
```

## Workflow

1. **Collect** — Extract metrics from SIEM, ticketing, and vulnerability tools
2. **Analyze** — Calculate trends, identify patterns, compute risk score
3. **Contextualize** — Map metrics to business impact and risk language
4. **Visualize** — Create charts and dashboards for target audience
5. **Narrate** — Write executive summary with key findings and actions
6. **Review** — SOC leadership reviews for accuracy and messaging
7. **Deliver** — Present to stakeholders with Q&A preparation

## Verification

| Check | Method |
|---|---|
| Metrics accurate | Cross-validate against raw SIEM data |
| Trends meaningful | Statistical significance check on changes |
| Business context included | Risk quantified in business terms |
| Recommendations actionable | Each item has owner, timeline, budget |
| Report delivered on schedule | Calendar compliance tracking |
