History and Rating Changes
The History tab on Security posture shows how your grade moved over time and, rating by rating, which issues appeared and which were fixed. Use it to answer "what happened?" when a grade changes.
Choose which score to look at
At the top of the tab, a switch reads Security score or Standard rating. Everything below follows it. The two scores keep separate histories.
The trend chart
Every point on the chart is a stored rating. Nothing is filled in between them, apart from the line that joins them.
- Hollow points are provisional grades: less than 60% of the score could be measured at that time.
- Dashed vertical lines mark a change of methodology version, so a change in the rules is not mistaken for a change in your posture.
- Compare a section adds a line for one section, so you can see whether DNS & email security, for example, moved on its own.
- Select a point to see What changed at that moment. When the stored rating records which issues moved, you see the new and resolved issues. Otherwise you see Sections that moved, or "No section score changed at this point."
Until there is more than one rating, the chart says "One score so far. The line starts with the next one." With none, it says "No history yet".
Note: a point is added each time a rating is recomputed. That happens after a discovery run finishes, when you press Recompute now, and when you save Settings (security score). See Accepted risk, coverage and recompute.
Rating by rating
Under the chart, the Rating by rating table lists each rating beside the one before it. The default window is the last 90 days.
| Column | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Rated | When the rating was made |
| Rating | Grade and score (hollow badge if provisional) |
| Change | Difference in score from the rating before |
| New issues | Counted issues that appeared since the rating before, and the points they cost |
| Fixed issues | Counted issues that went away, and the points they gave back |
Open a row to list the issues. Each line shows a severity chip, the title, the section and host, and its points. If more than are shown changed, the list says it shows those that cost the most points.
Things you may see in an opened row:
- First rating: "The first rating in the record: there is nothing earlier to compare with, so its counted issues are listed as new."
- Methodology changed: "Scored with methodology ..., a different version from the rating before: part of the change can be the model, not your posture."
- Same issue, new identity: a check identified the same issue under a new identity between two runs. It is treated as the same issue, not one fixed and one new.
Only counted issues are compared. Findings marked Not counted never move the score, so they never appear as new or fixed. See Issues and Action plan.
History on a domain page
A domain's own page has a History tab in the same format. It lists each run that could rate that domain, with a Run column linking to the run. Each run that can rate the domain adds a row. See Domain rating, run rating and Rate now.
Why did my grade change?
- Open History and pick the score that changed.
- Find the rating in the table and read Change.
- Open the row. New issues are what cost points. Fixed issues are what gave them back.
- If nothing new is listed but the score moved, look for the methodology note, a section that became measured (a check that could not run before), or, for the security score, a change to your settings or an accepted risk.
- For the section-level picture at that moment, open Rating and How is this calculated?.
Tip: a grade that drops right after a broader run is usually more coverage, not more risk. See Nothing found is not the same as we could not look.
Use cases and wiring tips
- Board report trend: pick Standard rating for a like-for-like line, or Security score for the number you manage against. Read the last quarter off the chart, and quote the grade only when the point is filled (not provisional). Put the same trend into a report with Scores in reports.
- Explain a drop to a colleague: send the expanded row's New issues list.
- Turn new issues into work: copy the New issues list into tasks in Tasks. See Use cases and wiring tips.
- Check a fix worked: after the next run, the fixed issue shows under Fixed issues with the points it gave back.