Skip to main content
Free Template
Last updated July 15, 2026

Free security questionnaire template for vendor responses

Download the ungated XLSX workbook with 30 original starter questions, evidence tracking, owner and reviewer fields, controlled status lists, readiness formulas, and an approved answer library. Use it around authorized SIG, CAIQ, VSAQ, and custom buyer questionnaires without replacing their source format.

30 Starter Questions4 WorksheetsNo Email Gate
What you get
  • Response tracker for question IDs, owners, evidence, drafts, approvals, and final answers.
  • Evidence controls for source ownership, classification, approval, and freshness.
  • Ready to Send logic that holds rows until evidence, approval, and final-answer checks pass.

What is a security questionnaire template?

A security questionnaire template is a reusable response structure that captures the question, control domain, owner, evidence source, draft answer, reviewer, and status for every row in an incoming vendor security questionnaire. It gives B2B SaaS teams a governed workflow they can apply to SIG, CAIQ, VSAQ, and custom buyer formats so answers stay evidence-backed and consistent across deals.

Download the actual XLSX workbook

The file is a 4-sheet Excel workbook, not a lead form or a screenshot. It contains 30 representative starter questions and opens in Microsoft Excel, Apple Numbers, and Google Sheets import workflows.

Download XLSX templateXLSX · 23 KB · Updated July 15, 2026

What the workbook includes

Questionnaire tracker

Thirty original starter questions with owners, evidence status, draft and final answers, review state, confidence, dates, and a formula-driven Ready to Send check.

Evidence register

A controlled inventory for artifact owner, approval state, classification, effective date, next review, source path, and freshness.

Answer library

Reusable response records that keep the canonical question, approved answer, evidence IDs, accountable owner, approver, and review cadence together.

Implementation guide

A Start Here sheet with workflow rules, safety boundaries, workbook instructions, publisher disclosure, and official reference links.

Recommended template columns

Question ID / Section

Keeps buyer formatting intact and makes it easy to track where each answer belongs in the final submission.

Question Text

Stores the exact wording from the buyer so reviewers can validate the answer against the original request.

Control Domain

Groups questions into access control, encryption, incident response, privacy, business continuity, and other reusable answer areas.

Primary Owner

Identifies who is responsible for drafting the answer so work does not stall in shared inboxes or email threads.

Evidence Source

Links the answer to the specific document, policy, report, or system artifact that supports the claim.

Draft Answer

Captures the reusable baseline response before legal, engineering, or security review.

Reviewer / Approver

Creates a formal sign-off path for sensitive claims, legal commitments, and technical statements.

Status

Shows whether the question is not started, in draft, waiting on SME input, approved, or delivered.

Suggested question sections

Company, compliance, and governance

  • What security certifications or audit reports do you maintain?
  • Who owns the security program and how often is it reviewed?
  • Do you conduct annual risk assessments and management review?
Attach: SOC 2 report, ISO certificate, security program overview, risk register summary

Identity and access management

  • How do you provision and deprovision employee access?
  • Is MFA enforced for production and administrative systems?
  • How are privileged accounts reviewed and monitored?
Attach: Access control policy, IAM screenshots, SSO/MFA configuration summary, access review record

Data protection and privacy

  • How is customer data encrypted in transit and at rest?
  • What customer data do you store and where is it hosted?
  • How do you support DPA, retention, and deletion requests?
Attach: Architecture summary, DPA template, encryption standard references, retention policy

Monitoring, incident response, and resilience

  • How do you detect and escalate security incidents?
  • What is your customer notification timeline for material incidents?
  • How do you handle backups, disaster recovery, and continuity testing?
Attach: Incident response summary, alerting workflow, BCP/DR summary, tabletop or backup test result

Third-party and secure development controls

  • How do you assess critical vendors and subprocessors?
  • What is your secure development and code review process?
  • How often do you run vulnerability scans or penetration tests?
Attach: Vendor management policy, SDLC policy, pen test executive summary, vulnerability management process

How to use the template

1
Step 1
Download the XLSX workbook and read the Start Here sheet before changing the tracker.
2
Step 2
Replace or append the representative prompts with the buyer's exact question IDs, wording, sections, and instructions.
3
Step 3
Assign owners and link every answer to approved evidence before drafting.
4
Step 4
Route sensitive rows to legal, engineering, or security reviewers for sign-off.
5
Step 5
Export the finished response in the buyer's requested format and save the final version for reuse.

Use official questionnaires from their publishers

This downloadable workbook contains original representative prompts and response-governance fields. It does not reproduce SIG, CAIQ, VSAQ, or a buyer's proprietary questionnaire. Obtain current official versions from the publisher, then preserve their identifiers, wording, instructions, and required delivery format.

Template plus workflow beats a blank spreadsheet

Faster routing

Control-domain tags and ownership fields reduce the time spent figuring out who should answer which row.

Better evidence hygiene

Linking each answer to a source document makes reviews easier and reduces inconsistent claims across deals.

Reusable baseline

Once your team has a structured template, future questionnaires become update-and-review exercises instead of full rewrites.

Frequently asked questions

Who should use this security questionnaire template?

This template is designed for B2B SaaS vendors that need a reusable starting point for enterprise buyer diligence. Security, compliance, RevOps, and solutions engineering teams can use it to standardize how they capture answers, assign owners, and attach evidence.

What should a good security questionnaire template include?

A strong template should include question text, answer owner, answer status, linked evidence, reviewer sign-off, and a final delivery status. It should also group questions by control domain so teams can route them quickly to the right subject matter experts.

Can I use this template for SIG, CAIQ, or custom buyer questionnaires?

Use this workbook as a response tracker around an authorized copy of SIG, CAIQ, VSAQ, or a buyer's custom questionnaire. It is an original workflow template, not an official release or a reproduction of those questionnaires. Preserve the publisher's or buyer's question IDs, wording, instructions, conditional logic, and required output format.

What evidence should I attach alongside the template?

Common evidence includes your SOC 2 Type II report, ISO 27001 certificate if applicable, penetration test executive summary, incident response summary, business continuity summary, DPA template, and security policy references. Each answer in the template should point to the document that supports it.

How does automation improve this template workflow?

Automation can assist with evidence matching, owner assignment, initial drafting, review routing, and export packaging. It does not remove the need to validate the original file, resolve evidence gaps, approve buyer-facing claims, and compare the final delivery with every source question and instruction.

Is the XLSX template really free and ungated?

Yes. The XLSX workbook downloads directly without an email form. It includes a response tracker, evidence register, answer library, 30 original starter questions, data-validation lists, status formulas, and implementation instructions.

Next steps

Pair this template with a governed review workflow so answers stay evidence-backed, consistent, and fast to deliver.
Response checklistQuestionnaire examplesFull response playbookVendor questionnaire pageSecurity questionnaire softwareHow to automate security questionnaires