SERVICE 03 · SECURITY ADVISORY
Fractional CISO leadership, strategy roadmaps, and governance advisory for organizations without a dedicated security executive.
THE PROBLEM
Security decisions need an owner: someone to prioritize investment, explain risk to leadership, and keep the roadmap moving. When a full-time CISO is not the right fit, fractional leadership can provide that structure alongside your IT team and service providers.
WHAT WE OFFER
ADV-A
A monthly fractional CISO engagement with a defined cadence and a defined deliverable set. Typical structure: weekly working hours, monthly executive readout, quarterly board-ready risk report, vendor security review pipeline, and a security strategy that evolves with the business. Tiered by hours and reporting cadence.
ADV-B
A fixed-scope engagement that produces a written 12–18 month security strategy and prioritized initiative roadmap. Deliverables include a current-state security profile, a target-state profile, a prioritized initiative list with effort estimates, and a sequencing plan that maps to growth-stage realities. Typical timeline: four to six weeks.
ADV-C
Standing advisory on governance, risk reporting, and policy. Engagements include written security policies, board-ready risk narratives, vendor security review programs, NIST CSF profiling, and the documentation a regulated or audited business needs to operate. Delivered as a retainer or as a fixed-scope project.
ADV-D
A fixed-scope review to help organizations prepare for cybersecurity insurance applications, renewals, and carrier questionnaires. We review your posture against the requirements in your carrier questionnaire, including relevant controls for MFA enforcement, endpoint protection, backup and recovery, security awareness, incident response planning, and Microsoft 365 hardening. Deliverable: a written readiness report with prioritized remediation. Typical timeline: 2-3 weeks.
Looking for penetration testing? It's delivered as its own practice: see penetration testing.
WHO THIS IS FOR
Mid-market firms with no in-house CISO · Founder-led companies past 50 employees needing security leadership · SaaS and professional services firms with regulatory or audit obligations · Companies preparing for cyber insurance applications or renewals · Boards seeking quarterly cyber risk reporting that holds up under scrutiny · Mid-market firms operating under SOC 2, HIPAA, or other framework obligations
HOW WE WORK
01 · LISTEN
Scoped intake to understand the business, the security gaps, the regulatory context, and the cadence leadership needs.
02 · STRUCTURE
A defined engagement structure with named deliverables, a monthly cadence, and a quarterly executive checkpoint.
03 · EXECUTE
Working hours where the practitioner does the actual security work: policy drafting, risk reporting, vendor reviews, incident response coordination, strategy refinement.
04 · REPORT
Executive readouts document current risks, progress, and decisions that need leadership input.
WHAT'S INCLUDED — VCISO RETAINER
ENGAGEMENT STRUCTURE
vCISO retainers are monthly engagements tiered by working hours and reporting cadence. Strategy and governance projects use fixed scopes. Pricing is quoted after intake; the proposal defines the deliverables and timeline for your engagement.
FAQ
START THE CONVERSATION
Request a 30-minute consultation. We'll tell you what an advisory engagement would actually deliver in your context, and whether it's the right fit.