A Fractional Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) provides businesses with the knowledge and experience of a senior Information Security executive without the associated cost of having a full-time CISO on the payroll. The fractional or virtual CISO executive fills the CISO role on a part-time or interim basis, providing strategic guidance, input at key points in a company’s growth, or covering the CISO responsibilities on a short-term basis.
When Should My Company Engage a Fractional CISO?
Is your company’s CISO position vacant? Is your current CISO carrying too heavy a load? Do you have a security or compliance initiative that needs to reach the goal line? Is your business not yet ready for a full-time CISO, but still has security needs? A Fractional CISO can be the solution!
Interim CISO – From time to time, companies may find themselves without a security executive, due to relocation, turnover, or other reasons. Executive hirings often take time, and finding a qualified cybersecurity executive can be challenging. A fractional CISO can step in to fill the role through this period, keeping existing programs and projects running and on track, maintaining compliance with legal and industry requirements, providing leadership to staff, and even assisting with the search for a replacement CISO.
Supplemental Executive – CISOs and other technology executives often have more on their plate than can be accomplished by one person. A fractional CISO provides additional executive bandwidth, allowing the existing CISO / CIO to share some of their load with a trusted partner, enabling the company to better meet its security & privacy needs.
Company Growth – Prior to reaching the point of hiring a full-time CISO, companies still have security & compliance needs & requirements. During this growth period, these responsibilities are often assigned to existing employees who have other duties – and other skill sets. Engaging a fractional CISO as a part-time security executive provides the expertise & advice the company needs at the executive level to ensure security requirements are met, as well as guidance & oversight to ensure the employees tasked with security responsibilities remain on the right path.
Goals & Projects – A fractional CISO can be engaged on a short-term basis to help the company achieve a specific goal, such as: an assessment of your security posture, implementation of a security program, development of policies & procedures, building a security team, remediation of issues following a data loss or after an audit, providing security training, and other security, privacy or compliance related projects.
Regulatory Compliance – In today’s world, companies are governed more and more by legal requirements, industry mandates and security frameworks, such as: PCI-DSS, HIPAA, GDPR, CCPA, NIST, ISO 27000, Sarbanes-Oxley, and more. Whether it’s your first time achieving compliance or an annual re-certification, a fractional CISO provides experienced leadership to help your company attain or maintain the required certification.
Novice CISO – In situations where a less-experienced professional may be carrying the full weight of a security program, engaging a fractional CISO provides seasoned expertise and input for senior leadership, while also providing mentoring and advice for the junior CISO to help them as they grow into the role.
Timely Advice – Engaging a fractional CISO as an advisor early in the life of a company, and periodically as it grows, provides expert guidance at critical times, allowing companies to factor security considerations into key decisions, preventing significant headaches & costs down the road and avoiding issues before they occur.