[Blog](/blog) Show links Resources [Blog](/blog) [Breaches](/breaches) [eBooks, reports, & more](/resources) [Events](/events) [News](/news) [Cybersecurity](/category/cybersecurity) Show links Categories [Attack Surface Management](/category/attack-surface-management) [Company News](/category/company-news) [Compliance and Regulations](/category/compliance-and-regulations) [Cybersecurity](/category/cybersecurity) [Data Breaches](/category/data-breaches) [DevOps](/category/devops) [Human Cyber Risk](/category/human-cyber-risk) [Risks and Vulnerabilities](/category/risks-and-vulnerabilities) [Third-Party Risk Management](/category/third-party-risk-management) [Vendor Risk Management](/category/vendor-risk-management) [Cyber Security Report Examples (3 Common Styles)](/blog/cyber-security-report-examples) Publish date December 1, 2025 {x} minute read # Cyber Security Report Examples (3 Common Styles) [Get a demo](/contact-sales) [Free trial](/demo) [Download the PDF guide](/resources/why-is-executive-reporting-in-cybersecurity-important) [Free trial](/demo) Written by [Edward Kost](/team/edward-kost) Senior Cybersecurity Writer Edward is a cyber writer with a mechanical engineering background. His work has been referenced by academic institutions and government bodies. Reviewed by [Phil Ross](/team/phil-ross) Chief Information Security Officer Phil is a Forrester Zero Trust Strategist leveraging decades of experience in enterprise cybersecurity architectures. Table of contents eBook Why is Executive Reporting in Cybersecurity Important? Free resource ### Why is Executive Reporting in Cybersecurity Important? [Download now](/resources/why-is-executive-reporting-in-cybersecurity-important) Cyber security reports are an invaluable tool for keeping stakeholders and senior management informed about your cyber security efforts. This post outlines examples of some of the most popular reporting styles, with a particular focus on a field of cybersecurity drawing increasing interest among executive teams - [Vendor Risk Management](https://www.upguard.com/blog/vendor-risk-management). Each of the cyber security report examples in this list have been pulled from the UpGuard platform -[ learn more about UpGuard’s reporting features](https://www.upguard.com/product/reporting). ## 1. Board Summary Report The board summary report is a high-level overview of the key factors and KPIs impacting your organization’s overall[ security posture](https://www.upguard.com/blog/security-posture). #### Why is this report useful? A board summary report is useful for proving the board with quick updates of an organization’s cybersecurity efforts. This report template is a ideal for the board because it offers the minimal level of detail required to understand an organization’s overall cyber risk exposure, making it easy to understand even for those with little technical knowledge. #### What features are included in a board summary report for cybersecurity? An ideal board summary report template should include the following details. ### (i). Overall security rating overview [Security ratings](https://www.upguard.com/blog/security-ratings-important) are the most convenient method of summarising an organization’s [security posture](https://www.upguard.com/blog/security-posture). Drawing upon the same principle as credit card scoring, security ratings represent an organization’s overall “cybersecurity health”, quantified as either a numerical value (ranging from 0-950) or a letter grade (ranging from A-F). These calculations are made by considering multiple [attack vectors](https://www.upguard.com/blog/attack-vector) across commonly exploited attack surfaces - to learn more about this process, refer to this explanation of[ how UpGuard calculates its security ratings](https://www.upguard.com/product/security-ratings). > Like credit scores, the higher an organization’s secuirty ratings, the less its potential of experiencing a cyber security incident. By also including a high-level breakdown of security ratings across primary attack vector categories, board members will have visibility in the specific regions of the company’s [attack surface](https://www.upguard.com/blog/attack-surface) most likely to facilitate a breach from a cyberattack, highlighting the sensitive regions of the company's [first line of cyber ](https://www.upguard.com/blog/prevent-data-breaches)defenses. Here’s an example of a security ratings overview from a board summary report on the UpGuard platform. The entity in this example and its associated insights are fabricated for illustrative purposes. ‍***‍***Security ratings are broken down into five attack vector categories - website security, email security, network security, phishing and malware, and brand & reputation. This snapshot also benchmarks the company’s security rating performance across its main competitors. Such key findings could help the board gauge the organization’s potential of closing new high-value relationships over its competitors. With [data breach](https://www.upguard.com/blog/data-breach) risks now the primary concern of all scaling strategies, an overview of cyber risk profies is becoming [a primary focus of due diligence efforts](https://www.upguard.com/blog/vrm-onboarding-process). And with speed being a critical metric of scalability, potential business partners are more likely to leverage security ratings tools to efficienctly [evaulate risk appetite alignement](https://www.upguard.com/blog/risk-appetite-calculation-third-party-risk-management). In this example, the organization has a relatively low potential of vulnerabilities in information technology being exploited in a [phishing attack](https://www.upguard.com/blog/phishing). However, security measures need to be tightened in the area of email security, which could trigger mitigation efforts such a reviewing security controls and security policies for [information security](https://www.upguard.com/blog/information-security) frameworks, such as [NIST CSF](https://www.upguard.com/blog/nist-cybersecurity-framework), or [ISO 27001](https://www.upguard.com/blog/what-is-iso-27001). ### (ii). Security rating changes over time A security rating overview provides the board with a point-in-time reference for the organization’s security posture performance. To indicate whether the initiatives of your cyber security strategy are improving the strength of your security program over time, a board summary report should also include a trajectory of security posture changes over the last 12 months. ### (iii). Vendor risk overview With cybercriminals increasingly targeting [third-party vendors](https://www.upguard.com/blog/third-party-vendor), the board will expect to see an overview of the company’s [third-party risk](https://www.upguard.com/blog/what-is-third-party-risk) exposure, even in an [executive summary](https://www.upguard.com/blog/writing-a-cybersecurity-executive-summary). The most convenient and efficient method of summarizing third-party cybersecurity threat exposure for your entire service provider network is with a graphical vendor risk matrix, measuring security rating distribution across three tiers of vendor criticality, ranging from low impact to high impact. > The inclusion of a vendor cybersecurity risk overview is crucial for effective cybersecurity decision-making at the executive level. Typically, vendors with the highest potential impact on an organizaiton should they suffer a [ransomware attack](https://www.upguard.com/blog/ransomware) or data breach would be grouped in the most critical tier, where degree of impact is determined by whether the vendor [requires access to sensitive data](https://www.upguard.com/blog/vendor-risk-management-implementation-framework). By offering the board a concise snapshot of risk exposure across your critical vendor segment, discussions about preventive measures are focused on remediation strategies with the most significant positive financial impact, keeping board meetings value-focused and efficient. At the ground level, a vendor tiering strategy is greatly beneficial to security teams, simplifying cyber risk remediation prioritization in [incident response](https://www.upguard.com/blog/creating-a-cyber-security-incident-response-plan) and[ risk assessment processes](https://www.upguard.com/blog/implementing-a-vendor-risk-assessment-process). ## 2. Vendor risk assessment report A [vendor risk assessment](https://www.upguard.com/blog/vendor-risk-assessment) report summarises the key risk exposure findings of a completed vendor risk assessment. #### Why is this report useful? For newly onboarded vendors, a risk assessment report outlines the framework for the vendor’s risk management strategy. For existing vendors, this report allows senior management to track the efficiency of an implemented risk management strategy. With a growing number of regulators expecting [Third-Party Risk Management](https://www.upguard.com/blog/third-party-risk-management) oversight from executive teams, such reports are an invaluable aid for maintaining awareness of a company’s third-party threat landscape. #### What features are included in a vendor risk assessment report for cybersecurity?  Because they cover such a wide range of third-party security risk insights in detail, vendor risk assessments are quite lengthy. For the sake of brevity, only a few of the main features of a [vendor risk assessment](https://www.upguard.com/product/risk-assessments) report are covered below. For an overview of UpGuard’s new and improved vendor risk assessment reporting template, watch this video. To start evaluating vendor cyber risks, download your [free cybersecurity risk assessment template](https://www.upguard.com/templates/cyber-risk-template). ### (i). Security ratings by category if your cybersecurity program has integrated security rating technology into its risk exposure tracking processes, the inclusion of a breakdown of security ratings across all monitored attack vector categories will serve as a convenient summary of the findings of the risk assessment. In this example, the vendor’s overall security risk rating is primarily affected by cyber risks detected from questionnaire responses. ### (ii). Remediation summary A summary of all primary remediation tasks in the pipeline. ### (iii). Risk category breakdown A detailed breakdown of all the cyber risks associated with all of the attack vector categories this risk assessment is mapping to. In this example report template from the UpGuard platform, a breakdown is included for six risk categories: * Questionnaire Risks * Website Security * Email Security * Network Security * Phishing & Malware * Brand & Reputation Risk Here’s a snapshot of a risk breakdown for just the Questionnaire risk category: ## 3. Company attack surface report A company’s attack surface report, referred to as a Breach Risk report on the UpGuard platform, provides an overview of the key factors impacting an organization's cybersecurity posture. #### Why is this report useful? An attack surface report is useful for tracking an organization’s internal cybersecurity efforts. #### What features are included in a board summary report for cybersecurity? The following features contribute towards a set of cybersecurity insights that are most valuable for keeping senior management informed of the company’s internal cybersecurity performance. > Note: These are just a few of the details included in UpGuard’s breach report, for more comprehensive view of the report,[ request a free trial of UpGuard](https://www.upguard.com/demo). ### (i). Competitor analysis An overview of the company’s security posture performance against its main competitors. Tracking this metric will help senior management evaluate the company’s overall cybersecurity reputation and the likelyhood of winning new partnerships over its competitors. A snapshot of a security posture benchmarking feature in an example Breach Risk report from the UpGuard platform. ### (ii). Security rating changes over time across primary attack vector categories To provide deeper insights into the organization's general cybersecurity performance improvement trend, this report should include an overview of security rating changes over time for all primary cyber risk categories. Here’s an example of security posture performance in the website security category for the past 12 months. ### (iii). Cyber security risk breakdown To provide a deeper level of insights into security posture trajectories outlined in the previous point, these reports should include a list of detected threats in each risk category, ranked by level of criticality. Here’s an example for the Network Security category. ## Cyber security reporting By UpGuard The UpGuard platform includes a library of customization cyber security reports to support its end-to-end Vendor Risk Management workflow. With the addition of features streamlining common reporting bottlenecks, such as the ability to export board summary reports into editable PowerPoint presentations, UpGuard removes the stress of keeping stakeholders informed of critical cybersecurity insights. eBook Why is Executive Reporting in Cybersecurity Important? Free resource ### Why is Executive Reporting in Cybersecurity Important? [Download now](/resources/why-is-executive-reporting-in-cybersecurity-important) ## Related posts Learn more about the latest issues in cybersecurity. Cybersecurity #### [12 Cybersecurity Horror Stories of 2026 (No Costume Required)](/blog/cybersecurity-horror-stories-2026) A warning ignored once becomes a headline. Read more about these 12 real 2026 cybersecurity incidents, and the sign each one gave before it made the news. 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[](/team/revashni-moodley) [Revashni Moodley](#) October 14, 2026 Cybersecurity #### [Risk Automations: The Shift From Catch-Up to Command](/blog/risk-automations-shift-catch-up-to-command) Connect intelligence to system execution with Risk Automations, your new resolution layer for risk. Reduce remediation from hours to seconds - read more. [](/team/revashni-moodley) [Revashni Moodley](#) December 1, 2025 Cybersecurity #### [Shai-Hulud's True Lesson for CISOs: A Crisis of Communication](/blog/shai-hulud-lesson-for-cisos) Shai-Hulud was driven by a communication crisis between security and engineering. Get a CISO's perspective on how to finally bridge this gap. [](/team/phil-ross) [Phil Ross](#) September 3, 2026 [All posts](/blog) Experience superior visibility and a simpler approach to cyber risk management [Get a demo](/contact-sales) [Free trial](/demo)