Summarize a security incident for executives
Turns technical incident details into a clear leadership briefing on impact, actions, decisions needed, and next update.
The prompt
Write an executive summary of a security incident.
Incident details: [PASTE technical timeline, findings, systems affected]
Status: [ongoing / contained / resolved]
Confirmed impact: [systems down, data accessed or exfiltrated, customers affected, cost so far]
Still unknown: [WHAT we are still investigating]
Decisions we need from leadership: [e.g. "approve outside forensics firm", "approve customer notification"]
Audience: [CEO / board / leadership team]
Write it with these sections:
1. Bottom line (3 sentences): what happened, current status, and the business impact.
2. What we know vs. what we do not know yet, clearly separated.
3. Business impact: operations, customers, data, money, and legal or regulatory exposure, using only confirmed facts.
4. Actions taken so far and what is next, with dates.
5. Decisions needed, each with a recommendation and deadline.
6. Next update: when it will come.
Rules:
- Plain language. Explain any technical term in a few words or drop it.
- Never minimize or speculate. Write "not yet determined" rather than guess the scope or cause.
- Do not assign blame to individuals.
- Keep it to one page. Add a short timeline table as an appendix.
Remind me that wording about data exposure may have legal consequences and should be reviewed by counsel before wide distribution.
Highlighted [brackets] are blanks to replace with your own details.
Fill in the blanks and use this promptMore Email & Workplace Communication prompts
What to fill in
- PASTE technical timeline, findings, systems affected
- ongoing / contained / resolved
- WHAT we are still investigating
- CEO / board / leadership team
How this prompt is built
This prompt follows the RTF structure (Role, Task, Format). RTF tells the model who to be, what to do and what shape the answer should take. It is the quickest structure that still gives noticeably better results than a bare request.
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