Bringing top-tier security experts to your company

Assess your existing information security programs and develop, implement and manage customized information security protocols

Virtual CISO

Virtual Chief Information Security Officer

What is a Virtual CISO?

Top-tier security experts to guide your security program

Virtual CISO is a service designed to make top-tier security experts available to organizations who need security expertise and guidance. Our team of experts has decades of experience; building information security programs that work WITH business objectives and show measurable improvement to security posture.

How can we help?

Get our vCISO services to help build out your security program in the most cost-effective, efficient and highest-impact fashion.

FRSecure’s Virtual CISO Program

An FRSecure vCISO engagement is designed to meet security programs where they’re at. We start by going through an onboarding assessment to get an understanding of the maturity of your program. With that, we can provide initial remediation recommendations to address glaring concerns and prepare you for a more extensive risk assessment. Ultimately, your vCISO engages in a constant cycle of assessing and remediating—allowing you to meet your security goals.

vCISO Program Steps

01.

Full Risk Assessment

With the help of your FRSecure analyst, this assessment will determine administrative, physical, internal, and external technical risk so that targeted improvements can be made.

02.

Roadmap

A roadmap will be created based on the findings from your full risk assessment, then we will begin by focusing on the highest impact security objectives to improve your security posture and business as a whole.

03.

vCISO Engagement

Your vCISO will be your security expert to ensure your organization stays on target and will be there to assist with coaching, policies, asset management, or wherever else your in-house team requires additional support.

"Since our industry is so highly regulated, we wanted to be sure our security was performing as well as it possibly could. We are subject to customer audits, and FRSecure helped us strengten our policies and operating procedures to frame us in the best light with our customers. There is a lot of depth to their background in information security and physical security. They know how to provide full coverage and give good suggestions to eliminate gaps."

CTO

CaringBridge

Virtual CISO FAQ

How much does a Virtual CISO cost?

Virtual CISO cost is based on several variables such as the size and complexity of your organization, the number of devices in your network, and estimated time spent working with you as a client. You should expect to spend $4k-$6k or more per month based on these factors. This price includes annual assessments, roadmapping, vulnerability scanning, consulting services, and access to portal software for tracking and communication purposes. Our typical virtual CISO cost less over time as our clients’ security programs go into “maintenance mode,” where the consistent building effort is no longer a factor.

What does a Virtual CISO do?

A virtual CISO is an assigned resource with experience building and improving information security programs. Starting with a risk assessment, a vCISO first gets an understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of an organization’s security program. Based on the results, the vCISO then works with executive leadership teams to understand goals, budget, and bandwidth—allowing them to provide actionable recommendations, or a roadmap, based on the business’s goals and the risk assessment’s findings. With the roadmap in place, they work with the organization’s internal security team to train staff and make the recommended improvements, improving the ability of the organization to protect its sensitive information and increase its operational efficiencies. Over time, they simply become a sounding board for the organization’s staff to bounce questions and challenges off of.

What is CISO as a service?

CISO as a service is another name for virtual CISO consulting services. A provider like FRSecure assigns organizations a proven and certified information security professional to help organizations protect sensitive information and achieve related business goals along the way.

How much does a CISO make?

The truth is, CISOs are expensive. Most of them cost between $250k and $350k when you factor in salaries and benefits. That’s not always easy for small- and medium-sized businesses to cover.

What are the responsibilities of a vCISO?

FRSecure’s vCISO services are meant to be flexible in order to meet the needs of each of our clients. Engagements typically follow a cycle of assess, plan, and remediate.

Whether you need high-level guidance on a monthly or quarterly basis or need hands-on help several days per week, our vCISO’s will be able to build a solution for you.

Typical objectives of vCISO engagements include:

Information security leadership and guidance
Steering committee leadership or participation
Security compliance management
Security policy, process, and procedure development
Incident response planning
Security training and awareness
Board and executive leadership presentations
Security assessment
Internal audit
Vulnerability assessments
Risk assessment
And much, much more.

What are the benefits of vCISO vs CISO?

Lower Cost Over Time

Virtual CISO cost can be expensive depending on your business’s size and needs. But, most of the work is preliminary, so the involvement (and therefore what a virtual CISO costs) decreases over time.

Extensive Industry Knowledge and Skill

Does your “security” person wear a ton of hats in the organization? It’s not uncommon for companies to assign security roles as a secondary function of an employee’s primary role. Because of this, they’re often not true experts.

vCISOs, especially those at FRSecure, are highly skilled and certified experts with years of information security experience. A virtual CISO is going to be able to enhance the internal capabilities of your employees tasked with handling security through the techniques they’ve learned.

Limited Turnover

Let’s face it, the security job market is as competitive as ever. We have to worry about employees leaving anyway, but that only adds to it. With an FRSecure vCISO, you equip your team with the expertise, methodologies, and resources to avoid losing a step—either as you work to hire a new CISO, or if you want our team to occupy that role.

Our Unique Approach

Why work with FRSecure?

Expertise

FRSecure has been in business for over 10 years, and our team has more than 300 years of combined experience working in information security and boasts 30 different kinds of certifications. When it comes to growing a security program through a vCISO, you have the benefit of experience in your corner.

Mission

Our mission at FRSecure is to fix the broken information security industry. Not only do we respond to incidents, but we also solve as many weaknesses as we can in your security environment. Being with organizations before, during, and after a breach is the only way we can truly improve their security and protect the sensitive information entrusted to them.

Style

Our approach isn’t “cookie cutter.” We recognize that each organization is different, and every security program is at a different stage of maturity. We get to know your security program intimately, use an information security risk assessment to inform the vCISO team what your strengths and weaknesses are, and then apply industry best practices to provide next steps that’ll help you make improvements.

Focus

Information security is all we do. We don’t do IT, sell hardware, or provide telco services. We only do security. Because of this, our virtual CISO team can provide unbiased recommendations that will actually make a dramatic impact to the way you do security. Our vCISO team works hard to be a partner—collaborating with and educating your team every step of the way.

"The higher level of security we’ve achieved with their guidance has allowed our business to grow immensely."

Security Administrator

Premier Printing Company

Virtual CISO vs Contractor vs CISO

The benefits our Virtual CISO consulting services provide over alternative options

Verifiable Industry Experience
Expert Advisor
Strategic Security Planning
Flexible Investment
Guaranteed Objectivity
No Training & Certification Costs
Annual Risk Assessment
Objective Measurable Performance
Access to a Team of Experts
No Turnover
Wide-range of Specialized Expertise

Verifiable Industry Experience
Expert Advisor
Strategic Security Planning
Flexible Investment
Guaranteed Objectivity
No Training & Certification Costs
Annual Risk Assessment
Objective Measurable Performance
Access to a Team of Experts
No Turnover
Wide-range of Specialized Expertise

Verifiable Industry Experience
Expert Advisor
Strategic Security Planning
Flexible Investment
Guaranteed Objectivity
No Training & Certification Costs
Annual Risk Assessment
Objective Measurable Performance
Access to a Team of Experts
No Turnover
Wide-range of Specialized Expertise

“FRSecure wants to make sure that they give you exactly what you need, and that’s the primary reason that I went back to them. They really offer you very personal instruction and guidance.”

Senior IS Officer

First National Minnesota Bank