Security Win Tracker

Make Your Security Work Visible

Templates for turning security work into language that gets budget and headcount.

Templates

01

Quarterly Win Tracker

Fill this in as you go. Don't wait until week 12.

View Template

Q__ 20__ Security Wins

Category What We Did The Number Business Translation
Risk Reduction
Pen test / vuln mgmt e.g., Annual pen test 7→2 high findings YoY "71% reduction in critical vulnerabilities"
Patching / remediation e.g., Critical vuln remediation MTTR 21→8 days "3x faster than industry average"
Access review e.g., Quarterly access audit 47 accounts removed "100% least-privilege compliance"
Business Enablement
Sales support e.g., Security questionnaires 12→3 day response time "Enabled $X in enterprise deals"
Product launches e.g., Pre-launch testing 3 launches, 0 incidents "$Xk launch revenue protected"
Compliance milestone e.g., SOC 2 Type II Zero exceptions "Unlocked [market/customer segment]"
Operational Excellence
Automation e.g., CI/CD security scanning 4 hrs→15 min per release "500 eng hours/year reclaimed"
Tool consolidation e.g., Merged 3 tools into 1 $40k annual savings "Reinvested in [X]"
Proactive Defense
Threat response e.g., [CVE] remediation 72-hour full remediation "Competitors took weeks"
Training impact e.g., Phishing simulation 18%→7% click rate "Below 33% untrained baseline"

Notes / Context: Deals that closed because of security. Fires that didn't happen. Anything that needs explaining.

02

The All-Hands Snippet

2-minute script for presenting security wins at company all-hands.

View Template

Template

This quarter, security focused on [1-2 sentence theme: enabling growth / reducing risk / operational improvement].

The headlines:

  • [Risk Reduction]: [Metric] — [one sentence translation]
  • [Business Enablement]: [Metric] — [one sentence translation]
  • [Operational Excellence or Proactive Defense]: [Metric] — [one sentence translation]

Security's job is to help us move fast without breaking things. This quarter, we did both.

Example

This quarter, security focused on enabling our enterprise sales motion while continuing to improve our security posture.

The headlines:

  • Our annual pen test showed a 71% reduction in high-severity findings compared to last year — our third straight year of improvement
  • We cut security questionnaire response time from 12 days to 3, directly supporting $1.2M in enterprise pipeline
  • When React2Shell hit, we had validated remediation in 72 hours while most of our industry took weeks

Security's job is to help us move fast without breaking things. This quarter, we did both.

03

The CEO Slack Reply

For when you get pinged Friday at 4pm asking "what should I say about security at the all-hands?" 30 seconds to read.

View Template

Q_ Security highlights for all-hands:

  1. [Biggest number]: [One line, e.g., "86% reduction in pen test findings over 3 years"]
  2. [Business outcome]: [One line, e.g., "Security questionnaire turnaround cut to 3 days, supporting enterprise deals"]
  3. [Proactive win]: [One line, e.g., "[Vulnerability] patched and validated in 72 hours"]

One-liner if you want it: "Security enabled $X in deals this quarter while continuing to strengthen our defenses."

04

The Board Slide

One slide, four quadrants. A format boards understand.

View Template

Structure

┌─────────────────────────────────┬─────────────────────────────────┐
│ RISK REDUCTION                  │ BUSINESS ENABLEMENT             │
│                                 │                                 │
│ • [Metric]: [Number]            │ • [Metric]: [Number]            │
│ • [Metric]: [Number]            │ • [Metric]: [Number]            │
│                                 │                                 │
├─────────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────────┤
│ OPERATIONAL EXCELLENCE          │ PROACTIVE DEFENSE               │
│                                 │                                 │
│ • [Metric]: [Number]            │ • [Metric]: [Number]            │
│ • [Metric]: [Number]            │ • [Metric]: [Number]            │
│                                 │                                 │
└─────────────────────────────────┴─────────────────────────────────┘

Q_ Focus: [One sentence theme]
Q_ Look-ahead: [One sentence on what's next]

Example

┌─────────────────────────────────┬─────────────────────────────────┐
│ RISK REDUCTION                  │ BUSINESS ENABLEMENT             │
│                                 │                                 │
│ • Pen test findings: 86% ↓ YoY  │ • Enterprise deals enabled: $1.2M│
│ • Critical vuln MTTR: 8 days    │ • Questionnaire response: 3 days │
│   (industry avg: 65 days)       │ • Product launches: 3, 0 incidents│
├─────────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────────┤
│ OPERATIONAL EXCELLENCE          │ PROACTIVE DEFENSE               │
│                                 │                                 │
│ • Security automation: 500 hrs  │ • React2Shell response: 72 hours│
│   eng time saved annually       │ • Phishing click rate: 7%       │
│ • Tool consolidation: $40k saved│   (untrained avg: 33%)          │
└─────────────────────────────────┴─────────────────────────────────┘

Q2 Focus: Enabling enterprise sales motion while maintaining security improvement trajectory
Q3 Look-ahead: Quarterly pen testing program, SOC 2 Type II renewal
05

Customer Update Email

Quarterly email template to keep customers informed about your security posture.

View Template

Subject: [Company] Q_ 20__ Security Update

Security highlights from this quarter:

✓ [Compliance status, e.g., "Maintained SOC 2 Type II with zero exceptions"]
✓ [Testing activity, e.g., "Completed annual penetration testing; all findings remediated"]
✓ [Relevant incident response, e.g., "Responded to [industry vulnerability] with 72-hour validated remediation"]
✓ [Improvement metric, e.g., "Reduced critical vulnerability remediation time to 8 days"]

Coming in Q_:
[1-2 forward-looking items]

Questions? security@[company].com

Sending Tips

  • Timing: Send in Q1 (Jan-Feb) covering the prior year
  • Audience: All customers, or segment by tier if needed
  • From: Security leader or CEO adds credibility
  • Reply-to: Use a monitored address (not no-reply)
  • Follow-up: Offer 1:1 security review calls for enterprise customers
06

Translating Security Work

Quick reference for converting technical work into business language.

View Reference
What You Did How to Say It
Pen test with fewer findings than last year "X% reduction in vulnerabilities year-over-year"
Patched stuff faster "Critical remediation time: X days (industry avg: Y)"
Responded to a CVE quickly "Validated remediation in X hours while industry averaged weeks"
Helped sales answer questionnaires "Security questionnaire turnaround: X days, enabling $Y pipeline"
Did pre-launch security testing "X product launches with zero post-launch security incidents"
Removed old accounts "Eliminated X dormant accounts, 100% least-privilege compliance"
Ran phishing simulation "Phishing click rate: X% (untrained avg: 33%)"
Automated something "X hours/year engineering time reclaimed through automation"
Consolidated tools "$X annual savings reinvested in [training/testing/tools]"
Got a certification "Achieved [cert], unlocking [market segment / customer tier]"
Nothing bad happened "Zero security incidents during 3 product launches" / "100% uptime on auth systems" / "No customer data exposure events"

13-Week Cheat Sheet

Keep it simple

Week Action
Week 1 Open this doc. Write down 2-3 things that might be wins this quarter. Set a calendar reminder for week 10.
Weeks 2-9 When you finish something, add it to the tracker. 30 seconds. Don't write prose, just capture the number.
Week 10 Your calendar reminder fires. Spend 30 minutes turning tracker entries into the templates above.
Week 11 Send the CEO Slack Reply. Takes 5 minutes, makes your life easier.
Week 12 Present at all-hands. Update the Board Slide if needed.
Week 13 Send customer update if you do that. Save this quarter's wins somewhere permanent. Repeat.

Semi-Useful Metrics

Start tracking these now so you have YoY comparison data later. Pick the ones relevant to your situation.

Get an Expert Opinion

We help security teams build programs that work. If you want to talk through your approach, we're happy to chat.

Schedule a Short Conversation