What is a Virtual CISO?
A virtual CISO is an outsourced security practitioner or company that offers their security professionals to fill your CISO role, typically utilizing more than one individual and operating on a remote, part-time basis.
To be more precise, it is a remote executive-level manager role who directs strategy, operations and the budget for the protection of the company’s information assets and manages that program. The scope of responsibility will encompass communications, applications and infrastructure, including the policies and procedures which apply.
7 Benefits of a virtual CISO
We have out listed the most important benefits:
1. Lower Costs
A virtual CISO is an effective and low-cost solution for companies looking for an alternative to a full-time employee. The actual costs vary based on your needs, on average they will cost 30% – 40% less than a traditional CISO annually and require none of the full-time staff benefits.
2. Specialized knowledge
With this service, you get instant expertise on the subjects of network, compliance and security – both in strategic direction and tactile implementation. It allows you to reap the benefits of all knowledge a security company has gained in their work within multiple environments across a diverse range of industries. Collective experience is a great benefit you will not get with a traditional one-person full-time CISO.
3. No Conflict of Interest
An internal CISO might be inclined to always agree with an executive’s IT security recommendations to keep them happy. A virtual CISO will have less fear of disagreement with executives. With a virtual CISO, you have a team of professionals, all with their own prior experiences and thoughts on solutions. Their collective decision-making will result in more focus on the best possible solutions.
4. Frees up teams
Your internal team can focus on day-to-day functions instead of worrying about governance, compliance and other issues that fall outside the scope of their technically-oriented backgrounds. The virtual CISO company always has a team of professionals on standby.
5. Flexibility
Not only are virtual CISOs much faster to implement, but they are also extremely scalable. Both in the amount of support and length of the contract. The service can be tailored to meet your companies’ needs. Whether you simply need a short term “fill-in”, a permanent CISO solution or you simply want to add a support element while your internal resources gain the appropriate experience.
6. Easy access to valuable guidance
One of the most overlooked benefits to a virtual CISO is the resources they bring with them. Easy access to an entire security team, library of documents and tools to immediately implement within your organization. Your organization will realize the best routes to enable and support the business, while dramatically reducing information security risk and inefficiency.
7. Compliance
A virtual CISO gives your organization immediate compliance to regulations that require an in-house CISO.
The service can take over the responsibility of responding to security questionnaires, saving your team valuable time and effort and potentially freeing up your existing CISO for more urgent projects.
Conclusion
The CISO role is extremely vital to the success of any organization in today’s constantly evolving technological landscape. With the emergence of virtual CISO services, organizations can now customize their CISO role to have significantly lower costs, greater control over spending, access to a team of professionals with various backgrounds, faster onboarding, complimentary efforts to existing staff, no conflicts of interest or bias, and more eyes watching over the security of your organization. These solutions are best suited for small and medium-sized organizations, though large organizations could benefit from the additional support as well.
Contact us today to learn more about virtual CISO solutions, pricing, and if it is the right fit for your organization.