Cybersecurity Reporting Tools That Will Make Your Life Easier

The cybersecurity industry has proliferated in the past few years, and as it has grown, so has its value. According to research, the cybersecurity market is currently valued at $159.8 billion and expected to reach $345.4 billion by 2026. As the number of cyber and IT businesses, tools, and employees has grown, the volume of cyber attacks on businesses of all shapes and sizes has skyrocketed. Organizations must proactively manage and reduce their attack surface to prevent incidents.

As cybercrime becomes increasingly lucrative, cyberattacks are likely to increase. However, data breaches aren’t just limited to financial losses. They can affect business operations, staff, valuation, reputation, and finances. Whether handling sensitive or personal data, companies seek efficient solutions to maintain network security, protect data confidentiality, and safeguard sovereignty. It is essential to ensure comprehensive protection across all digital assets and systems. But how?

Cybersecurity reporting tools protect enterprises from various types of malicious attacks and cybercrimes. Cyber breaches are less of a question of ‘if’ and more of a question of ‘when.’  Cybersecurity risk management strategies must focus on how effectively they proactively manage security threats and respond using these cyber tools. In addition to direct threats, risks can also originate from the supply chain, making it crucial to use tools that monitor and secure interconnected supplier networks.

Before we discuss the reporting tools you need, let’s examine why replacing legacy or spreadsheet systems with automation-driven tools built for today's digital age is crucial.

How Spreadsheets Impede Cybersecurity Reports

Data is a valuable asset to any business—it supports roles across the organization, including market research, HR, internal sales, and more. However, many companies still need to improve their tools, such as spreadsheets, for communicating and visualizing data. According to a report from the Aberdeen Group, more than 89% of companies use spreadsheets daily.

Though spreadsheets are excellent tools, they aren't ideal for data communication, visualization, or security. Spreadsheets are inefficient and can expose your business to various security risks. They're modular, slow, costly, and unable to detect vulnerabilities that cybercriminals and hackers exploit.

Here are a few reasons why many companies worldwide started to see spreadsheets as a bad option:

• Manual workflows

• Outdated assessments

• No standardized reporting

• Lack of a unified compliance framework

• Data silos

• Prone to error

• Time-consuming

• Doesn't provide data in real-time

Now that you know spreadsheets are ineffective, let's learn about the five best cybersecurity reporting tools to identify vulnerabilities.

5 Must-Use Cybersecurity Reporting Tools

Discover what a cybersecurity tool is and how these tools simplify your security team’s life.

Cybersecurity reporting software helps organizations monitor, analyze, and report on security events and compliance status. Some cybersecurity reporting tools are also available as a managed service, providing additional support to internal security teams by extending their capabilities with vendor risk management, risk identification, and remediation.

These tools range from SIEM platforms to specialized GRC (Governance, Risk, and Compliance) solutions. GRC tools, such as Archer and LogicGate, are used to manage compliance, conduct risk assessments, and ensure policy adherence, helping organizations meet regulatory requirements and internal standards.

Automation

Automation is an effective way to build a unified, comprehensive strategy to handle various cybersecurity risks. This cyber tool empowers you to streamline risk assessments while providing excellent visibility into security and risk postures.

Cyber risk management professionals can collect data through integrations using tools that allow real-time executive reporting, automated scoring, and a cyber risk register. This helps you stay informed about relevant information required to understand prospective and existing risks and protect confidential information.

Automation empowers you to draft an integrated incident response plan, manage real-time instead of point-in-time compliance, and ensure the company adheres to relevant standards or frameworks. Automated cybersecurity reporting enables continuous monitoring and assessment of security controls, making it an essential component of a comprehensive security program.

One of the several ways the CyberStrong solution leverages automation is through Continuous Control Automation (CCA), CyberSaint’s unique approach to continuous control monitoring (CCM). CCA is AI-powered and enables security professionals to learn how to control failures in real time and why they occur.

In short, automation helps save a company’s resources and time by reducing the effort and time needed to run projects, do manual handling risk assessments or update compliance requirements. Automation in cybersecurity reporting reduces manual effort and errors, ensuring comprehensive and accurate insights.

Assessment Workflow And Reporting

This reporting tool helps you assess risks and rank them per severity to prioritize risks that need immediate attention and remediation, and those that can be tolerated temporarily until all significant issues are resolved.

Security professionals can effortlessly track maturity and performance with on-demand reporting and assess compliance against any customized or industry-standard framework. Additionally, this helps track compliance and identify posture and gap issues. Moreover, the tool provides greater confidence in the data and helps you generate predictive analytics from routine information flows.

Also, cyber risk assessment workflow and reporting help strengthen cybersecurity Board reporting, promote communication and transparency, and improve cyber investment.

Automated Crosswalking

In all niches and industries, companies face regulatory changes and a sharp rise in vendor security assessment questionnaires. As audit requests and reporting expectations increase, CISOs require real-time visibility into their security and compliance posture through frameworks.

A manual crosswalking project is complex and requires massive time and resources. It can also take hours to map, and is primarily based on control content, rather than concepts or intentions.

Whether performed by an outsourced firm or an internal team, crosswalking is integral to any compliance program. Choose automated crosswalking for accuracy. Help companies prevent cyberattacks by gaining instant visibility into compliance postures across standards or frameworks.

Move from a traditional (manual) mapping project to automated ones where standards, frameworks, and custom controls are immediately mapped to any other requirement.

Automated crosswalking offers the following benefits:

•  Near-instant mappings

•  Unlimited mappings available to perform in a one-to-one or one-to-many fashion

•  Accurately based on the contents and intent of controls, not just words, using NLP-backed technology.

Risk Register

A cybersecurity risk register is a popular tool among cybersecurity professionals and leaders. It allows practitioners to measure and track risks in a centralized place. It provides a way to record identified risks, their severity analysis, and essential management actions.

You won’t be able to monitor documented risks that change over time, make informed decisions, roll up risks, report them, or visualize and discuss them across your company without a risk register. Project teams can use risk registers to improve their cybersecurity by leveraging efficacy, scope, and compliance.

Listed below are a few advantages of cybersecurity risk registers:

• Enterprise-wide view into cyber and IT risk, past, present, and future scenarios

• Accurately based on real-time data

• Model out solutions for the lowest risk reduction and the largest ROSI

• Easily rolled up and reported to nontechnical stakeholders

Third-party risk management is a critical aspect of effective cybersecurity reporting software. TPRM programs need to adapt to today's threat velocity, as organizations depend on thousands of third parties, but few have the resources to meet security expectations. Security teams often struggle to identify and reach the right person at third-party vendors, which can delay risk mitigation. Limited resources and expertise make it challenging to manage risk across numerous vendors, and prolonged exposure time can occur when manual processes extend the window between detection and response. Third-party risk management is essential for protecting supply chains from cyber threats.

Learn more about CyberSaint’s Cybersecurity Risk Register Software with this technical brief.

Real-Time Reports and Dashboards

The importance of KRIs, visualizations, and metrics is increasing exponentially, particularly when assessing solutions to handle cyber risks.

With increased scrutiny from the Board and executive leadership, cybersecurity real-time reports and dashboards help monitor goals and satisfy various stakeholders, from the Board of Directors to the C-suite.

With real-time reports and executive dashboards, security professionals will get easy-to-understand, informative insights, periodic updates, and reports to communicate with stakeholders easily about the current security status, including the cyber risk and compliance posture. From Governance Dashboards to Executive Dashboards, the CyberStrong platform delivers customizable and action-backed visualizations.

Best Practices for Implementing Cybersecurity Reporting Tools

Implementing cybersecurity reporting tools is essential for organizations to strengthen their security posture and proactively manage security risks. To maximize the value of these tools, security professionals should follow best practices to ensure seamless integration, effective reporting, and ongoing risk management.

1. Prioritize Continuous Monitoring: Adopt tools that support continuous monitoring of your digital assets and network traffic. This approach enables your security teams to detect vulnerabilities and security threats as they emerge, rather than relying on periodic assessments. Continuous monitoring provides real-time insights into your organization’s security posture, enabling faster responses to potential risks.

2. Integrate with Existing Security Solutions:  Ensure your cybersecurity reporting tools can easily integrate with your current security infrastructure. Seamless integration reduces manual effort, centralizes data in a single location, and streamlines reporting, making it easier to track and manage security events across your digital ecosystem.

3. Focus on Vulnerability Management:  Choose tools that offer robust vulnerability management features. Effective vulnerability management helps you identify, assess, and prioritize risks, enabling your team to address the most critical security threats first. Real-time visibility into vulnerabilities supports proactive risk mitigation and strengthens your organization’s cyber resilience.

4. Leverage Real Time Insights for Decision-Making:  Utilize reporting tools that deliver real-time insights and actionable metrics. These insights empower security professionals and the C-suite to make informed decisions, track progress, and demonstrate compliance to stakeholders. Real-time data also supports rapid response to emerging threats and evolving risks.

5. Provide Ongoing Training and Support: Equip your security teams with the knowledge and resources needed to use new reporting tools effectively. Regular training ensures your team can fully leverage the capabilities of your cybersecurity solutions, maintain compliance, and adapt to changes in the threat landscape.

6. Regularly Review and Update Processes: Continuously evaluate the effectiveness of your cybersecurity reporting tools and processes. Regular reviews help identify gaps, optimize workflows, and ensure your organization remains protected against new and evolving security risks.

By following these best practices, organizations can implement cybersecurity reporting tools that deliver real-time visibility, enhance vulnerability management, and support a proactive approach to risk management—ultimately strengthening your organization’s security posture and resilience.

Swap Your Cybersecurity Reporting Software for Real-Time Insights with CyberStrong

Modern organizations face challenges that require careful monitoring, tracking, and evaluation of cybersecurity posture to prevent data loss. Modern cybersecurity reporting software enables organizations to monitor and improve their security posture continuously. Maintaining an 'audit-ready' state through continuous monitoring protects organizations from legal fines and reputational damage.

By 2026, cybersecurity reporting will have evolved to provide senior management with high-level visibility and automated compliance evidence. Data-driven decision-making aligns cybersecurity spending with core business objectives, informed by fact-based insights. The cybersecurity tools mentioned above help reduce manual intervention and deliver tangible ROI for your company.

Replace old legacy tools with an automated, all-in-one solution like CyberStrong to save time, effort, and money. See how the platform offers all the listed tools and more in a centralized place with a demo. It enables businesses to gain unprecedented visibility, build resilience, and automate compliance.