What is a vCISO?
 

Though every business can benefit from the leadership of a Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) not every business has the resources to hire one full time. 

And How Can Your Organization Benefit From This Key Resource?

Learn how vCISO services bring the leadership of an experienced CISO to businesses of any size in a way more flexible and cost-effective than a full-time CISO.

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Though every business can benefit from the leadership of a Chief Information Security Officer (CISO), not every business has the resources to hire one full time. Recruiting the right CISO is difficult. There are fewer people with the security and business expertise to be an effective CISO than there are businesses who need their skills. And there may be a particular shortage of local candidates. So even if you do find the right person, hiring an experienced CISO is expensive. The typical salary for a CISO ranges between $195,466 and $258,537 per year. Depending on the size of your business, you might not have enough active security initiatives to require a full-time CISO.

Fortunately, bringing a CISO in-house is no longer your only option. A virtual CISO may be the solution to your problem.

What is the advantage of working with a vCISO?

A virtual CISO, or vCISO, brings the advantages of executive-level leadership to businesses of any size, at any stage of growth. They are a highly experienced security executive with extensive business and technical knowledge, available remotely and on-demand. A vCISO has experience, often across multiple industries, with implementing security programs, guiding security operations, performing incident response, and working with executives to justify, align, and support security measures.

A virtual CISO comes into your business ready to hit the ground running on the same kinds of initiatives that a full-time CISO would guide, including:

  • Designing or advising on the design of security programs

  • Performing due diligence before implementing security technologies

  • Providing executive oversight of IT Managed Service Providers (MSP’s)

  • Responding to inquiries or surveys from customers asking about your security

  • Leading security and compliance initiatives

  • Reviewing security concerns related to mergers and acquisitions

  • Evaluating data protection practices, including third-party access to sensitive data

  • Speaking with regulators and cyber insurance companies

  • Communicating with other executives to gain deeper security buy-in

As opposed to a full-time CISO, vCISO services provide your business with expertise and guidance on a remote, flexible basis. Whether your business has not yet grown to the scale of needing a full-time CISO, or you have some security leadership but need to bridge gaps or support specific projects, a vCISO gives you what you need, when you need it, and at a price you can afford.

Why choose Defensible?

When you partner with Defensible, you are bringing in a vCISO with the technical expertise, business experience, and risk-based analysis to secure your data for the long term. Defensible vCISO services integrate seamlessly with your processes and goals. Our executives emphasize active listening, which speeds up their integration with your business. Defensible also prioritizes simple, actionable reporting and explanation, which bridges the gap between security advice and security action. Defensible vCISOs are armed with a customizable library of policy templates and program plans that have been field-tested as proven, practical and effective.

Though NIST standards and many other frameworks require “reasonable security measures” to protect sensitive data, such as PII, with increasingly sophisticated attackers at large, reasonable is no longer enough. Your business needs a security program strong enough to keep your data safe and keep your reputation strong as your business grows. This starts with leveraging an expert.

Learn more about vCISO+ services

Our vCISO+ services provide organizations with a virtual CISO plus the support of a completely outsourced cybersecurity team-as-a-service, with subject matter expertise in network security, application security, digital forensics, general IT, and more.

Every business needs the experience and leadership of a CISO to help plan strategically for security, implement tactical security and response initiatives, and gain vital executive buy-in for security. A Defensible vCISO brings this leadership to your business on a flexible cost basis, no matter where you are located.

To learn more about how vCISO services from Defensible can provide the security expertise and guidance your business needs, contact us today.


For more information or to schedule your free 30-minute consultation, please reach out to ciso@defensible.tech