Communication
Executive Briefing Template
Framework for preparing and delivering incident briefings to non-technical executive audiences.
Communication · intermediate · 30-60 min preparation
Template for briefing executive leadership on security incidents.
Steps
5
01
Situation Summary
Provide high-level incident overview.
- What happened in one sentence
- When did it start and when was it detected
- What is the current status
- What is the business impact
02
Impact Assessment
Describe business impact clearly.
- Systems/services affected
- Data potentially at risk
- Customer/partner impact
- Financial/operational impact
- Regulatory/legal implications
03
Response Actions
Summarize response efforts.
- Immediate containment steps taken
- Investigation status
- External parties engaged (legal, forensics, law enforcement)
- Communication actions taken
04
Next Steps
Outline planned actions.
- Near-term recovery plan
- Outstanding decisions needed
- Resource requirements
- Timeline for resolution
05
Recommendations
Provide actionable recommendations.
- Decisions needed from leadership
- Communication recommendations
- Resource requests
- Long-term improvements
Checklist
- One-sentence summary prepared
- Timeline of events documented
- Business impact quantified where possible
- Technical details translated to business terms
- Regulatory implications assessed
- Response actions summarized
- External engagement documented
- Next steps and timeline outlined
- Decision points identified
- Q&A anticipated
Evidence
- Briefing slides or document
- Timeline graphic
- Impact assessment
- FAQ document
Communication
- One-page executive summary
- Detailed briefing deck
- FAQ for executive questions