Fractional CISO

Cybersecurity Leadership Within Your Budget

You want to improve your cybersecurity, and you’d love to hire a Chief Information Security Officer (CISO). But at an average salary of around $230k per year, and like many other small and medium businesses, your budget can’t take the strain. Yet without that expertise, your business is at risk from cyberattack.

You’re between a rock and a hard place. And you’re being squeezed. You can’t afford to hire a CISO. With cybercrime exploding (it’s forecast to increase by 15% per year through to 2025, when it is expected to cost the world more than $10 trillion), you can’t afford not to.

Could a Fractional CISO be the solution you seek?

A Fractional CISO is like having a part-time CISO working onsite. They may also be employed in other capacities within your firm, but increasingly you’ll find that a Fractional CISO is an external expert who is contracted by you for a set number of days each week. During their contracted hours, the Fractional CISO is in your workplace.

This type of CISO could be crucial if you need your CISO to have an intimated knowledge of your company. 

It may be that your business requires you to collect and hold sensitive information, and this requires a comprehensive security approach in which the CISO will be an integral part of your management team, helping to inform and develop cybersecurity policy and best practices.

Being onsite, a Fractional CISO can conduct cyber-protection strategies more easily, such as penetration tests and risk assessments.

Peace of mind for your clients and third-party partners

Having a CISO also provides customers and third-party partners with a degree of comfort. It helps to demonstrate that you take cybersecurity seriously, and that you work hard to protect all your sensitive information. 

A good CISO will be able to clearly communicate with outside (and internal) stakeholders to explain the measures you are taking to protect their data. This will help to build trust and elevate new customers to long-term relationships.

Evaluate your need for a Fractional CISO

When we work with our clients, we can evaluate their need for a Fractional CISO. 

We’ll consider a wide range of factors that affect your business, including:

  • The data you hold

  • The external relationships you maintain

  • Your jurisdiction and legal obligations

  • Your existing IT infrastructure, hardware, and software

  • The training and support your employees need

  • The cybersecurity risks that your business faces

If your company suffers a security breach, it could cost millions of dollars. Your credibility could be damaged. Clients may turn to your competitors. An experienced Fractional CISO can help to mitigate such risks.

To learn more, or to discuss your specific requirements, contact Millennium Tech USA.