A security champion is a team member embedded in a business, engineering, or operations function who helps promote and reinforce security practices locally. It matters because centralized security teams often need trusted partners inside other teams to scale adoption effectively.
What is a Security Champion?
Security champions are not always full-time security specialists. They are usually respected team members who help translate security guidance into practical team behavior, surface risks early, and encourage stronger habits around design, coding, operations, and review.
What Security Champions Commonly Do
Common activities include helping with threat modeling, promoting secure coding, escalating risks, improving review habits, supporting security tooling adoption, and acting as a bridge between central security and delivery teams.
Security Champion vs. Security Team Member
A security team member is typically part of the dedicated security function. A security champion usually sits within another team and supports security from that embedded position.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why do organizations use security champions?
Because security improves faster when guidance is reinforced by someone inside the team’s real day-to-day workflow.
Do security champions replace security professionals?
No. They extend and amplify security influence, but they do not replace dedicated security expertise.
Related Cybersecurity Terms
- Secure Software Development Lifecycle (SSDLC)
- Secure by Design
- Application Security (AppSec)
- Threat Modeling
