Virtual Chief Information Security Officer (vCISO)

Our Services

Virtual Chief Information Security Officer

Tailored vCISO Service to help you achieve your cybersecurity objectives

Working closely with your Technical and Executive teams, we can design a roadmap to help you strengthen your cyber resilience and keep you on track on the journey.

From keeping up with evolving security requirements, operational demands, and complex governance concerns to staffing and bandwidth challenges, businesses face an array of obstacles to maintaining an effective, up-to-date security program. Organizations needing security support can benefit from our Virtual CISO (vCISO) program.

This program matches your organization with a highly experienced vCISO to deliver executive-level security guidance and project execution for any security effort, from strategy to implementation. Your engagement will be supported at all times by our team of security and information technology experts assisting the vCISO behind the scenes as needed or serving as dedicated on-site resources, depending on the nature of your engagement.

See what it is like to have a partner in the fight!

What can a vCISO can help with?

Your vCISO works closely with your team to map out and achieve intended goals, with the flexibility to engage at any point in new or ongoing security efforts and adjust project scope based on your needs. We generally approach an engagement in four main phases:

Assess the current security environment 1) Identify program gaps
2) Pinpoint challenges
Plan a security roadmap 1) Identify program goals
2) Map and prioritize next steps
Execute immediate priorities 1) Establish technologies and processes
2) Implement security best practices
Oversee maintenance & governance   1) Ensure processes are valid and functional
   2) Train team members as needed
   3) Measure outcomes and provide deliverables
   4) Provide ongoing assistance

Prepare you for tomorrow’s cyber threats today

Your Virtual CISO (vCISO)

Our vCISO will embed into your organization from the outset to analyze and document risk exposure, drive the creation and delivery of a risk-based security strategy, and communicate effectively at board level, ensuring a pathway towards improving organizational maturity.

Our vCISO program benefits you by:

Providing a strategic cybersecurity roadmap
Policy reviews and updates
Gap analysis against a well-known framework such as ISO27001 or NIST CSF
Defining action plans for a new security controls (including Microsoft Defender, data loss prevention (DLP), access management etc.)
Demonstrating measurable success and compliance to your executive management and board

Virtual CISO

Frequently asked questions.

What does a Virtual CISO do and why should I consider this service?

A Virtual CISO (vCISO) is an outsourced, external security practitioner or service provider who offers their knowledge, time and expertise to an organization on an ongoing basis. This is commonly carried out in a part-time capacity and often remotely.

A vCISO provides organizations who, generally, cannot afford, or are not in a position to employ, the services of an in-house Chief Information Security Officer (CISO), with both strategic and operational leadership with regards to their security.

Organizations that employ a CISO are more likely to have the correct and most adequate governance, operational and technical controls that are necessary for the mitigation of cyber security risk.

By engaging with a vCISO you will significantly reduce your overall cyber risk and make a considerable financial saving for your business by not having to employ such a highly skilled individual directly.

A vCISO will guide and advise the leadership team on best practices for continued cyber security maintenance and compliance. Typically, a vCISO will perform several functions for your organization:

Security operations
Cyber risk analysis
Security architecture
Access management
Data loss prevention
Governance and compliance.

How do I know if I need a Virtual CISO?

There are various reasons why a Virtual CISO might be a good option for your organization:

Your organization is growing rapidly and must demonstrate cybersecurity compliance. A vCISO can provide an objective, outside perspective on how best to safeguard the business’ various IT architecture, services, and applications.
Low-risk tolerance. All organizations have differing tolerance levels when it comes to risk. Sectors which typically have higher risk levels – such as finance and healthcare – also have lower tolerance levels for perceived threats.
Budgetary constraints. Paying for a full-time CISO position for your organization can be costly and may be counter-productive with respect to a limited budget. Individuals who possess the necessary skills and expertise required to fulfil the role of CISO are very valuable and in extremely high demand. A vCISO is a cheaper alternative while also retaining many of the indicative benefits of an in-house CISO.
You have an issue which needs to be resolved immediately. The scouting for, and hiring of, the right person to come in and do the work of a CISO can take many months. If an organization is responding to an immediate threat, then a vCISO can be available much more quickly.
Your business has a lot of data to protect.
Your industry is highly regulated. A vCISO is an expert of all things regulatory and compliance related. Any industry/sector that deals with data that is considered to be more sensitive – healthcare, legal etc. – are bound to much tighter regulatory constraints.

What are the benefits of a Virtual CISO?

There are several benefits to hiring a Virtual CISO:

Access to more than just one individual. Most vCISO service providers will give you access to an entire team of specialists when it comes to security. This can also have an increased impact when it comes to the overall monitoring of your organization’s cyber security needs. A team of people can, as a general rule, comb through more data and cover more ground than any one individual.
Faster than the internal recruitment of an in-house CISO
Far cheaper than paying for the recruitment of an internal CISO

How do I select a Virtual CISO provider?

There are several qualities that should be considered when selecting a vCISO service provider:

Adequate security experience. It is important to ensure that any service provider has an adequate background in the discipline of security. When someone is examining your operations, it is essential that they do so with cyber threats in mind.
Knowledge of how to report in terms of return on investment (ROI). Any service provider should be immediately able to answer the question “What effect does cyber security have on my business’s ROI?”
Ensures regulatory compliance. They will scale the cost of any implemented security strategy to match the size of your organization. This also works in reverse order in so far as any good vCISO will make you aware of any areas where you may not be putting the necessary time, money or energy and that may, as a result, be increasing your overall risk.

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