Security champion
A security champion is a person within a team who helps colleagues apply security practices and connects that team's questions and concerns with security specialists.
Someone who understands the team’s work
A champion can spot where security guidance does not fit the tools or decisions their colleagues face. They can explain the problem to security specialists and bring a practical answer back to the team.
OWASP’s guidance comes from application security, where champions often work within development teams. Its playbook recommends extra training for the role, which is often added to existing responsibilities. The useful idea is local knowledge and a connection to specialist help, not a new title alone.
Give the role time and a clear mandate
Agree what the champion can decide, what needs escalation, and who provides support. OWASP explicitly recommends clear expectations and a defined mandate. A champion should not have to guess whether they can approve an exception or merely raise it.
Keep ownership explicit. Naming a champion does not automatically transfer responsibility for a system, business approval, or incident response to them. Those responsibilities need an actual assignment and the authority to carry them out.
For a help-desk team, a useful contribution might be identifying an escalation instruction that staff cannot use during a shift. The champion can help get the issue addressed; the procedure owner still needs to approve and maintain the fix. The help-desk verification guide gives that discussion a concrete starting point.