Security Metrics and KPIs

tag: [Operations & Strategy, Legal & Compliance]

Measuring security performance through metrics and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) can be very useful for assessing the effectiveness of your security program, and can allow you to make informed decisions on what actions to take with regards to security.

Some examples of what could be worth recording are:

Key Security Metrics

  1. Measure the time taken to detect, respond to, and resolve security incidents.
  2. Track the total number of security incidents over a specified period.
  3. Measure the time taken to fix identified vulnerabilities.
  4. Monitor the rate of false positives generated by security tools to assess their accuracy and efficiency.

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

  • Mean Time to Detect (MTTD): The average time taken to detect a security incident.
  • Mean Time to Respond (MTTR): The average time taken to respond to a security incident.
  • Patch Management Effectiveness: Percentage of code/systems patched within a defined timeframe.
  • User Training Completion Rate: Percentage of project team members who have completed required security training.
  • Security Audit Findings: Number of findings from security audits and the percentage of findings resolved within a specified period.