What is CISO as a service?

CISO as a service is another name for virtual CISO. 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.

vCISO Consulting Services

Executive-Level Security in Your Back Pocket

Build a custom information security system designed for your business and your budget.

What Is a Virtual CISO?

A virtual CISO, otherwise known as CISO as a service or a fractional CISO, makes top-tier security experts available to organizations who need security expertise and guidance. Our vCISO engagements are designed to meet security programs where they’re at and build a custom roadmap to where you need to go. As part of the process, a vCISO will ensure you are meeting compliance and regulations initiatives. FRSecure goes above and beyond base compliance, ensuring you have a program tailored for your unique security needs.

vCISO Program Steps

Our program starts with an onboarding assessment that helps us understand the maturity of your program. Then 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 to help you meet your security goals.

01.

Full Risk Assessment

This 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. This allows a vCISO to improve your company’s information security posture and help secure critical data.

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.

Virtual CISO vs Contractor vs CISO

Explore the benefits our virtual CISO consulting services provide when compared to 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

Our Unique Approach

Why work with FRSecure?

Expertise

FRSecure has been in business for over 10 years, featuring a team with more than 300 years of combined experience working in information security and more than 50 different certifications. When it comes to growing a security program through vCISO solutions or a fractional CISO, 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, 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 security and protect sensitive information.

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, what the 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—it’s all security, all the time. This means our virtual CISO team can provide unbiased recommendations that will actually make a dramatic impact on your security program. Our vCISO team works hard to be a partner by educating and collaborating with your team every step of the way.

"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. Typically, our virtual CISO costs less over time as security programs progress along the roadmap and 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. After assessing the strengths and weaknesses of a security program, a vCISO works with executive leadership teams to establish goals, budget, and bandwidth before providing a recommendation roadmap of next steps. Once the plan is in place, they collaborate with the internal security team to train staff and make improvements to protect sensitive information and increase operational efficiency. As the security program matures, a vCISO becomes an expert resource that can answer questions and help internal teams overcome new challenges.

What are the benefits of a vCISO vs CISO?

Lower Cost Over Time

A virtual CISO can be expensive depending on your business’s size and needs. However, most of the work is preliminary so the involvement (and cost) decreases over time. And in some cases, vCISO services can result in a net positive for your bottom line by identifying existing systems and services that you no longer need in your security environment.

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 will enhance the internal capabilities of your employees tasked with handling security.

Limited Turnover

Let’s face it, the security job market is as competitive as ever and security programs can falter if key individuals leave the business. With an FRSecure vCISO, you equip your team with the expertise, methodologies, and resources to avoid losing a step—whether you’re working to hire a new CISO or if you want our team to occupy that role.

How much does a CISO make?

The truth is, CISOs are expensive. Most of them cost between $220,000 – $400,000 in salary and when you factor in benefits, bonuses, and equity, total compensation will often be $700,000 or more. That’s not always easy for small- and medium-sized businesses to cover, making a vCISO an invaluable and cost-effective resource.

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: 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

What's the difference between a virtual CISO and fractional CISO?

In our case, there is no difference other than the name. An FRSecure fractional CISO is the same as a vCISO—a security expert we provide that gives guidance for your current business and security objectives. While they are the same to us, sometimes a fractional CISO is on-site personnel or staff and may have other IT or security roles within the organization.