Choosing the Right Metrics
Effective security metrics should be:
- Actionable: Drive decisions and improvements
- Measurable: Quantifiable with consistent methodology
- Timely: Current enough to be relevant
- Relevant: Aligned with business objectives
Executive Dashboard Metrics
| Metric | Description | Target |
|---|---|---|
| Risk Score | Overall organizational risk rating | Below threshold |
| Critical Vulnerabilities | Number of unpatched critical vulns | Zero or trending down |
| MTTR | Mean time to remediate findings | Within SLA |
| Security Incidents | Number of confirmed incidents | Trending down |
| Compliance Status | Percentage of controls met | >95% |
Operational Dashboard Metrics
| Metric | Description | Frequency |
|---|---|---|
| Vulnerability Age | Average age of open vulnerabilities | Weekly |
| Patch Compliance | % of systems within patch SLA | Weekly |
| Alert Volume | Security alerts generated/triaged | Daily |
| False Positive Rate | % of alerts that are false positives | Weekly |
| Coverage | % of assets under security monitoring | Monthly |
Implementation Steps
- Identify data sources: What tools and systems will provide metric data?
- Define calculations: Document exactly how each metric is calculated
- Set baselines: Establish current state before setting targets
- Automate collection: Manual metrics quickly become stale
- Create visualizations: Use charts that clearly show trends
- Establish review cadence: Schedule regular metric reviews
Presentation Tips
- Lead with 3-5 key metrics for executives
- Use trend lines to show improvement over time
- Include context and benchmarks where available
- Highlight wins and areas needing attention
- Tie metrics back to business impact
Common Pitfalls
- Measuring too many things (focus on what matters)
- Vanity metrics that don't drive action
- Inconsistent measurement methodology
- Not updating targets as you improve