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CISO AS A SERVICE

Get Experienced Security Leadership

Security leaders have never been in higher demand, and for good reason. From driving critical initiatives to aligning activities to address pressing business needs, their specialized experience and leadership are invaluable.

Unfortunately, proven CISOs (Chief Information Security Officers) are rare and highly sought after, making hiring and retaining a quality full-time CISO a daunting challenge. Fortunately, there’s an alternative approach to acquiring the expertise you need. Enter CISO as a Service.

Our leaders apply expertise wherever it is needed. They leverage combined experience to deliver key security program competencies and help achieve organizational goals. They manage cyber security risk, lead incident response efforts, identify exposures, and prioritize activities to optimize the security program continually and align it with business needs. Simply put, our virtual security officers manage and mature security programs.

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What is CISO as a Service?

CISO as a Service, sometimes called vCISO (virtual Chief Information Security Officer), is an alternative security program leadership strategy that leverages a flexible resourcing model to achieve your program goals. For organizations struggling with the realities of cost, limited local talent pool, and the need for broad expertise, CISO as a Service is a practical solution to achieve short- and long-term program objectives.

CISO as a Service embeds seasoned cyber security consultants within the environment to help lead initiatives and assist with program development, maturation, and management.

Common focus areas include:

  • Program development and management
  • Board-level coalition building
  • Policy and standards development
  • Maturation of various programs:
    • Compliance
    • Governance
    • Security awareness
    • Security metrics
    • Goals

CISO as a Service Cost

One key benefit of this approach is that you only pay for the security leadership you need. This fractional service scales up or down to meet the scope and pace necessary to achieve your unique security goals. A smart value play puts a virtual information security officer in place, driving improvements to security posture and having them ready should an urgent need arise. CISO as a Service gives you the expertise and leadership of a high-caliber CISO at a fraction of the direct-hire cost.

CISO Healthcare

CASE STUDY

Learn how a regional hospital improved risk management, incident response, and vulnerability assessment with CISO as a Service.

Wingman to a Security Leader

CISO advisory services are also available to support or uplevel the existing CISO or other security leadership. Whether filling an experience gap, assisting with bandwidth, or serving as a hands-on mentor, our leaders demonstrably improve the security program while helping to uplevel the leadership team.

When do you need a CISO?

From increasing threats to more sophisticated attacks to new compliance requirements, demands on security leadership continue to grow. For small—to mid-sized businesses, the time for security leadership to be a tacked-on responsibility and not someone’s clear priority has passed. There needs to be more at stake from a business continuity and brand reputation perspective than to have someone experienced driving efforts to prevent and minimize potential damage.

That said, hiring a CISO usually follows a compelling event. Some change in the environment makes the need clear.

There are proactive and active reasons a company may choose to hire a CISO. Reactive reasons include a cybersecurity breach, acquisition / consolidation, or regulatory challenges. Proactive reasons include the desire to grow or to add additional experience to the team.

Next Steps

Do you have critical initiatives that would benefit from a proven leader? Let’s talk.

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