Part-Time CISO

A part-time CISO can help protect your organization.

What Is a Part-Time CISO?

A part-time CISO, or Chief Information Security Officer, is a cybersecurity professional who fulfills the role of a CISO on a part-time basis. The CISO is responsible for managing an organization’s information security program and ensuring that adequate measures are in place to protect the organization’s sensitive data and systems from cybersecurity threats.

In many cases, smaller organizations or those with budget constraints may not require a full-time CISO but still recognize the importance of having someone oversee their information security efforts. This is where a part-time CISO comes in. They provide strategic guidance, assess risks, develop security policies and procedures, and implement security measures, but they do so on a part-time schedule.

Fractional CISO offers something unique in the security industry, more than just a part-time CISO, otherwise known as a Chief Information Security Officer. The mission of every part-time CISO is to partner with our clients to help them better understand their security needs. Not only do we deliver tremendous value by focusing on the key security elements that are applicable to their business, we learn your business and make decisions as you would -– understanding your risk profile and prioritizing everything we do based on a rigorous risk classification system.

Why Hire FractionalCISO?

Our part-time CISOs speak the language of your executive team and execute with a scope of responsibility to understand threats across the entire company. Your executive team and our part-time CISOs will gain a joint understanding of the risks of your current and planned investment levels in security. Some of the key planning processes that our part-time CISO can assist your executive team in are:

Security Investment Level
Security Policy
Security Project Prioritization
Compliance with various security frameworks and certifications
Designing, implementing, and managing a cybersecurity program
Internet of Things (IoT) security strategy

The Challenges with Full-Time CISOs

Organizations face various obstacles when it comes to hiring full-time Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs). One major hurdle is the scarcity of experienced and qualified candidates for this role, given the high demand for skilled cybersecurity professionals in the job market. This shortage makes it time-consuming and challenging to find the right candidate who possesses the necessary expertise and fits well within the organizational culture. Moreover, hiring a full-time CISO involves a significant financial investment, including competitive salaries, benefits, and ongoing training and development.

Small and mid-sized organizations may find it difficult to allocate the necessary resources required for a full-time CISO position. Additionally, retaining a full-time CISO can be problematic due to the competitive job market, with professionals often being enticed by attractive offers from other companies. To overcome these challenges, organizations may need to engage in careful planning, collaborate with external cybersecurity firms, or consider alternative solutions such as virtual CISOs or part-time CISO services.

Benefits of Using a Part-Time CISO

Industries – Part-time CISO

Our part-time CISOs have extensive expertise in several industries including:

Software as a Service (SaaS)
Financial Services and Fintech
Internet-of-Things (IoT)
Insurance
Medical / life sciences

Security Processes

In order to meet your customers’ security expectations, you need strong processes that ensure your customers’ security issue get to the right person and are resolved in a timely manner. Similarly, you need to make sure that the right people on your staff have the proper security knowledge and training, including how to handle a security breach. Our part-time CISOs have defended some of the world’s top organizations and led the efforts to remediate high profile breaches. Services include:

Security Processes & Documentation
Vulnerability Management Program
Training Program (All employees, development, operations, IT, networking)
Breach planning, processes, program management, remediation

Compliance

Compliance can be one of the most business-critical activities your organization undertakes, and a part-time CISO can be a key part to solving this business challenges. Our team has extensive experience with many compliance frameworks and certifications.

Product Lifecycle

Fractional CISO part-time CISOs can help you throughout the entire security lifecycle of your product from vulnerability introduction prevention to finding those that typically are not caught via penetration testing. Our part-time CISO services include the following:

Threat modeling
Secure Software Design Review
Secure Network Design Review
Secure Implementation Review
Third Party Software Recommendations
Secure Code Review
Security Testing Review

Market Activities

Many times, you need help telling your security story to close a deal or to better attract a particular market segment. We can help you with all manner of go-to-market activities including creation of security marketing content, discussing security with customers, answering security sections of RFPs, and recommending security language in contracts.

Expert security discussions with your customers (including the option of company badged information security consultants)
Request for Proposal (RFP) / Request for Information (RFI) answers for security questions
Security clause contract drafting and review (in conjunction with your legal team)
Security messaging documents and white papers for your business

Give Fractional CISO a call today to help you with your part-time CISO needs.

FAQs

Can a CISO be outsourced?

It is possible for a Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) role to be outsourced. Outsourcing the CISO function means hiring a third-party company or individual to fulfill the responsibilities and duties typically associated with the CISO position. This arrangement allows organizations to benefit from the expertise and guidance of experienced security professionals without having to employ a full-time, in-house CISO.

What is CISO as a Service?

CISO as a Service (CISOaaS) refers to a model where organizations engage the services of a Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) on a temporary or outsourced basis rather than hiring a full-time CISO as a permanent employee. In this model, a company can access the expertise and guidance of a CISO without the long-term commitment and expense associated with hiring a full-time executive.

CISOs play a crucial role in ensuring the security of an organization’s information assets and technology infrastructure. They are responsible for developing and implementing cybersecurity strategies, managing risks, overseeing compliance with regulations and standards, and establishing incident response and recovery plans.

Part-time CISO