This person can help you protect yourself from cyberattacks by building out cyber security programming, including infrastructure protection, data management, and customer privacy concerns.
A vCISO has the specialised technical knowledge and corporate governance experience that will be crucial in preventing evolving threats now more than ever!
Why do you need the virtual CISO service?
In an increasingly complex and ever-changing security landscape, it’s more important than ever to have a robust information security program in place.
The vCISO has more than just a cybersecurity degree, and they have years of experience in the industry. They are responsible for designing and implementing threat management strategies to protect their company from any cyber vulnerabilities that may arise.
The virtual CISO is there with you every step of the way as your team grows into this new job title because at a high level, it’s part of what makes them so valuable; being able to help companies grow by not only crafting but also managing their information security programs effectively. They will work with you to ensure that your data, services and reputation are protected.
In short, The virtual CISO is the chess master of information security.
The program they architect and manage – an organisation’s information security strategy, implementation roadmap, or policy creation- needs to get you from a position of vulnerability today into one that provides both protection against attacks now as well as in years to come.
They do this by understanding what hackers want from their target (elements like IT infrastructure assets) then designing defences accordingly.
Benefits of Hiring a Virtual Chief Information Security Officer
The hiring of a virtual CISO is the perfect answer to your organisation’s cyber security problems. Here are five compelling reasons you should hire one now!
Level of Expertise
vCISOs will be able to help you make sound decisions about your cyber security. This is because they have the experience and knowledge that other people don’t, which means ramp-up time decreases as they’re better at understanding what needs doing than someone else who’s less qualified. That provides a more substantial return on investment by reducing startup time!
Most importantly, a virtual expert provides peace of mind, leaving you free to focus on growing businesses safe in the knowledge that your IT and data security is being properly managed, and you can always get in touch to discuss your business needs. Also, IT teams stay in touch with vCISOs.
Information security experts will save your company from data breaches and helps in security improvements in your organisational structure to avoid security incidents from taking place.
Flexible to your needs
vCIOS offer flexibility while allowing employers access to some local talent pools without having any investment upfront other than contracting out services when needed.
Engaging a vCISO for short-term projects can help you get the job done without all of the overhead and risk. The great thing about this type of service is that your commitment ends when it does, so there are no long term commitments or payroll costs to worry about.
If your company needs more work in between engagements, risk management services from these professionals will scale up quickly with minimal involvement on our end and continue seamlessly until we need them again!
Affordability
An actual Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) can be pretty expensive for your board, costing over $250 thousand (~ £180,000)a year (according to salary.com).
This is so high due to their role’s importance and other factors like experience and education level.
Luckily for smaller companies without deep pockets, there are virtual CISOs who offer you all of the cyber security expertise and security services at an affordable cost – only paying when they’re working on something.
Training and mentoring your in-house team
VCISO services can help boon businesses, as virtual chief information security officers have the expertise to manage cyber security and provide training and mentoring.
Virtual chief information security officer responsibilities include making your in-house team more efficient and productive. vCISO manage strategic responsibilities, provide training, identify strengths and weaknesses in the company’s security staff.
This allows them to free up time for other tasks or projects that need attention while giving workers a chance to improve their skill set.
Remote working
vCISO is a relatively new trend in the industry. They allow companies to hire someone from nearly anywhere, giving their company more exposure and candidates than they might have had otherwise and provide them security advice on demand. It is a cost-effective solution for growing businesses.
Cyber security CISO work as consultants where you pay them for the security services that will be agreed upon by both parties ahead of time, so it won’t cost your company anything until there’s specific projects or tasks needed to be completed on an ongoing basis which is why this option has caught many people off-guard because it seems like nothing but upside with no downside at face value.
When a company needs a virtual CISO
Has Sensitive Information
The question is: are you serious about protecting your sensitive information? In this day and age, every organisation has it.
The issue at hand isn’t if the data will be safe or not, but rather how well an expert can safeguard that valuable work product of yours with a program to keep it secure for future employees.
Don’t want full-time CISO services
There are several CISO responsibilities, and they are in high demand. Some organisations may not have their CISO; they want to outsource some tasks related to information security policies or compliance procedures from experts. In these cases, they might choose the title “vCISO”.
These v-solutions can include defining needed cyber security policies and helping classify data according to specific regulations that need complying with HIPAA for health purposes or PCI DSS for credit card transactions (PCI stands for Payment Card Industry).
Has Specific Information Security Needs
Not all cyber security CISOs have the same set of experiences, expertise, or institutional knowledge.
This creates a tough situation for finding an ideal candidate for hire full-time with everything you need to be successful vCISO – particularly those who work at consulting companies where they can tap into other experts and specialists as needed – are perfect because their company also has experience hiring such positions before so there is no guesswork involved!
vCISO vs CISO – what you need for your organisation
In need of a temporary CISO
Does your company need an interim or temporary CISO? Have you recently lost the skilled resource that was handling cyber security issues for your organisation? If so, then maybe a virtual CISO is right up your alley.
A seasoned vCISO can provide value and oversight while also helping with the recruitment of someone new who will take on full-time responsibility as soon as possible.
Compliance obligations
To ensure that organisations can meet their cyber security compliance obligations, they often turn to a virtual Chief Information Security Officer.
However, since it is generally impossible for an organisation with no CISO or lack of expertise on specific regulatory requirements and how this translates into policies and processes to secure protected information.
A vCISO specialising in these mandates will assist you in developing a strategy and execution plan that meets your needs.
Cost-effectiveness for SMEs
Part-time vCISO’s services are more cost-effective for SMEs to receive the enterprise-level expertise they would otherwise be incapable of developing. Some companies may not have an in house CISO.
Still, by hiring and partnering with one or two people responsible solely for their security program, these organisations can afford access to world-class talent that leverages years of experience to build the best practices from scratch.
Assessing Cyber Security risks
The cyber security field has been evolving at an incredible pace. Cyber threats are constantly changing and identifying new weaknesses to exploit, making it difficult for organisations of every size to keep up with the fast-moving risk landscape.
For this reason, a vCISO can help by taking a look at your current budget and helping you identify ways that could more effectively spend money on cyber security services to protect against these ever-changing risks!
Cyber Security is a specialist field requiring a thorough knowledge of contemporary cyber defence best practices, awareness of the latest risk management strategy and security technologies, and a strong understanding of the current threat landscape.
Hire a Leader for a great cyber security strategy
It would be best if you had someone to steer your cyber security strategy program forward. You must appoint a leader who will make decisions and ensure the success of an information security program that prevents potential hazards from harming sensitive data in any way possible.
Our verdict
When an organisation faces whether to hire a CISO or vCISO, several factors need consideration.
One factor could be if they want someone who has a long-term dedication and focuses on just their company; in this case, hiring a CISO would make sense. Another factor might be budget constraints: If money is tight.
However, you still want information security implemented within your business’s infrastructure. Starting with a vCISO may work better before considering allocating funds towards eventually hiring one full-time staff member as a part-time or full-time CISO when necessary.
Shahrukh, is a passionate cyber security analyst and researcher who loves to write technical blogs on different cyber security topics. He holds a Masters degree in Information Security, an OSCP and has a strong technical skillset in offensive security.
