Website Security Report Template for Agencies

If you run a web agency, security audits are one of the easiest services to upsell — but only if your reports look professional and tell a clear story. A vague PDF full of jargon won't convince a client to pay for fixes. A structured, plain-English report with prioritised actions will.

This guide gives you a complete website security report template for agencies, including the exact sections to include, what to test, and how to present findings so clients actually approve the work.

Why Agencies Need a Standardised Security Report Template

Without a template, every audit becomes a custom project. You waste hours rewriting the same recommendations, formatting screenshots, and chasing CVE references. A reusable template lets you:

• Deliver consistent quality across junior and senior staff
• Audit a site in 1–2 hours instead of a full day
• Productise security as a fixed-price service (e.g. $500 audits)
• Upsell remediation work with clear scope
• Re-run the same checks quarterly for retainer clients

The Core Sections of a Website Security Report

Every client-facing report should follow the same structure. Here's the template we recommend.

1. Executive Summary

One page, written for non-technical stakeholders. Include:

• Overall security grade (A–F)
• Number of critical, high, medium, and low issues
• Top three risks in plain English
• Estimated remediation effort (hours or days)

Example: "Your website received a grade of D. We identified 2 critical issues, including a missing Content Security Policy and an expired SSL configuration that exposes user data. Estimated fix time: 8 hours."

2. Scope and Methodology

List exactly what was tested and how. This protects you legally and sets expectations.

• Domains and subdomains scanned
• Date and time of the scan
• Tools used (e.g. WebSentry, Qualys SSL Labs, manual review)
• What was not tested (e.g. authenticated areas, payment flows)

3. SSL/TLS Configuration

One of the most common findings. Document:

• Certificate validity, issuer, and expiry date
• TLS versions supported (flag anything below TLS 1.2)
• Cipher suite strength
• HSTS presence and max-age value
• Mixed content warnings

4. HTTP Security Headers

This is where most sites lose marks. Audit for:

1. Content-Security-Policy — present, scoped, no unsafe-inline
2. Strict-Transport-Security — at least 6 months, includeSubDomains
3. X-Frame-Options or frame-ancestors in CSP
4. X-Content-Type-Options: nosniff
5. Referrer-Policy — typically strict-origin-when-cross-origin
6. Permissions-Policy — restrict camera, microphone, geolocation

Tools like WebSentry will flag each missing or misconfigured header automatically and assign a letter grade, which saves you manually checking each one.

5. Cookie Security

For each cookie set by the site, record:

• Secure flag
• HttpOnly flag
• SameSite attribute (Lax, Strict, or None)
• Expiry and scope

Flag any session cookies missing Secure or HttpOnly as high severity.

6. DNS and Email Security

Often forgotten but increasingly important — especially for clients running email campaigns.

• SPF record present and not over the 10-lookup limit
• DKIM configured for sending domains
• DMARC policy (reject, quarantine, or none)
• CAA records to restrict who can issue certificates
• DNSSEC status

7. CORS Configuration

Misconfigured CORS is a common API risk. Test for:

• Wildcard Access-Control-Allow-Origin: * on authenticated endpoints
• Origin reflection without validation
• Allow-Credentials: true with permissive origins

8. CMS and Third-Party Risk

If the client uses WordPress, Drupal, or similar:

• Detect version (and whether it's exposed)
• Check for known vulnerable plugins
• List third-party scripts loaded (analytics, chat widgets, ad tags)
• Note any scripts loaded over HTTP or from suspicious domains

9. Findings Table

The heart of the report. Use a consistent format:

• ID — e.g. WS-001
• Title — short description
• Severity — Critical / High / Medium / Low / Info
• Affected URL or component
• Description — what it is and why it matters
• Evidence — request/response snippet or screenshot
• Remediation — exact code or config change
• References — OWASP, MDN, CVE links

10. Prioritised Remediation Plan

Don't just dump findings. Group them into phases:

1. Quick wins (under 2 hours) — add headers, set cookie flags
2. This sprint (1–2 days) — implement CSP, fix CORS
3. This quarter (longer projects) — DMARC enforcement, CMS upgrade

This format makes it easy for the client to approve a fixed-price remediation package.

How to Speed Up Audits Without Cutting Corners

Manually testing every header, cookie, and DNS record on every audit is painful. Most agencies combine automated scanning with a manual review pass.

A typical workflow:

1. Run an automated scan (e.g. WebSentry) to get the baseline grade and findings
2. Export the results into your report template
3. Manually verify any false positives
4. Add business-context notes — e.g. "this CSP issue is critical because the site processes payments"
5. Write the executive summary last, once you understand the full picture

Using a scanner for the heavy lifting means you can focus billable time on interpretation and remediation advice — which is what clients actually pay for.

Branding and Delivery Tips

• White-label the report with your agency logo and colours
• Export as PDF for archival, but offer a live dashboard for retainer clients
• Include a re-test offer — "we'll re-scan free after remediation"
• Add a glossary for terms like CSP, HSTS, DMARC
• Version your template so improvements roll out across all clients

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Using raw scanner output as the report (clients can't read it)
• Listing every low-severity informational finding without context
• Recommending fixes without estimating effort
• Forgetting to test the staging or marketing subdomains
• Not re-scanning after remediation to confirm the fix

Conclusion

A good security report template turns a one-off audit into a repeatable, profitable agency service. Start with the structure above, refine it with each engagement, and lean on automated tools for the mechanical checks so you can focus on advice and remediation.

The fastest way to populate your next report is to run a free WebSentry scan at websentry.dev — you'll get an A–F grade plus categorised findings across SSL, headers, CSP, cookies, DNS, and CORS that drop straight into your template.