How a Virtual CISO Can Solve Your Cybersecurity Demands

by Jaime Manteiga

Cybersecurity Is More Competitive Than Ever, Don't Get Left Behind!

Every day, even the most robust cybersecurity systems are attacked and cracked. However, that's not where most of the money is lost.  

Businesses lose millions upon millions of dollars every year in more mundane cyber attacks because they skimp on arming themselves with the best cybersecurity expertise and team possible.

Monitor Your Company's Cybersecurity Needs

Because a group of people runs your Virtual CISO program, they can devote more time to monitoring your organization down to the finer details far beyond what any security official could. If someone on your team takes a sick day or vacation, you'll have the rest of the team to provide security services and updates.  

This will give you a more detailed and accurate inspection and maintenance strategy for your organization's cybersecurity needs — as well as a higher chance of finding information security breaches. Having more teammates with a diverse range of skills will help your team provide better-tested solutions.

Cheaper Than Internal Hiring

When hiring an in-house CISO, you have to consider the following costs:

  • Insurance
  • Outgoing Training
  • Benefits
  • Salary (typically six figures)
  • Recruitment efforts
  • Profit sharing earnings/Bonuses
On average, a full-time CISO will cost around $256,278 annually. It might be more expensive to find a candidate with the correct skill set immediately, but not every company can afford to pay this kind of money.

The problem is, if you tried to undersell any of the above costs, you'd reduce the chances of finding and retaining high-quality CISO candidates. These experts know their value, and they are in high demand.

Using Virtual CISOs can help you manage costs by paying the information security provider a fee for a team of people. This is because the team deals with multiple clients, the costs for their benefits and salaries is divided by you and other organizations - which reduces your costs while giving you a more extensive range of experienced employees.

Besides, not every organization needs an on-site CISO. By having a vCISO can reduce your payroll costs. A virtual CISO based on your organizational needs can cost around 30-70% less than hiring a full-time CISO.

Focus on Better Value

A virtual CISO on your team can focus on cybersecurity and developing strategies to improve your team's infrastructure. This is their primary focus, their daily commitment to your organization.

This is the opposite of bringing an IT specialist to your team who will have to help other employees recover forgotten passwords, fix computers, and remove malware if an employee accidentally downloads something illegal.

You pay for the virtual CISO's expertise only, and their time is dedicated to helping your team with no distraction.

Vital Industry Contacts

Virtual CISOs tend to have more industry contacts throughout their career. They maintain relationships with cybersecurity specialists, get exclusive information on ongoing threats, and create networks on valuable connections.

These contacts mean that they can learn faster and get more support if they find a technical issue that they did not see before, enabling them to take care of a situation with minimal delay.

This might involve having a phone call to a thought leader - solutions that inexperienced in house employees might be unable to offer.

Ongoing Quality and Commitment

A CISO that works with your in-house team will end up leaving you, whether they scouted by one of your competitors or they want a change. This can leave your team without the expertise if you take too long to bring a new specialist around, meaning that you'll have to start again.

You can enjoy having a seamless service and better continuity with a virtual CISO. Even if your assigned person leaves the company, there won't be any interruption. In fact, you might not even notice a change has occurred after all.

Bespoke Services For Your Organization

Virtual CISOs know how to adapt to different organizations and their different needs. While a traditional CISO might have experience with only one or two businesses and are set on their ways, virtual specialists are more likely to provide more bespoke services.

Improve Your In House Team

You're in house team is valuable to your business, and so is their time. This means that having a virtual CISO can help you utilize their time so that they can bring more growth to your business.

Hiring a vCISO can handle daily operations. By guiding your in-house team, and managing strategic responsibilities, they can provide mentoring and training.

They can also spot strengths and weaknesses within your team, and identify places where you'll need additional training or help. A certified Virtual CISO can help your in-house team's workload, freeing up their time to do more critical tasks.

Objective Independence

Having a Virtual CISO adds more objective independence to your team and organization. Because they are outside of your organization, they don't have the "how we've always done it" mindset or are burdened with office agendas and politics. Virtual CISOs are only known by their reputation. Thus, they have to do the complete the job correctly.

Where Can I Find a Virtual CISO?

Companies can provide virtual CISO services once you search for them online. However, it's recommended that you ask your peers and colleagues first to see if they know anyone that can support the service. Before you start searching, you have to determine what you need and your expectations for the virtual CISO.

Identify what your company needs, how much support is required, and a total budget for the entire project. For most SMB, the demand for a CISO is due to regulatory compliance.

For instance, if you're working with a client that needs specific support, for example, a HITRUST report, you should look for an external IT auditor to determine if the report is necessary. They can help you find out if you need a virtual CISO and help you determine the expectations and scope for their services.

The Importance of Getting CISO Certified

When it comes to getting a position as a CISO, employers aren’t playing around. Usually, they want prospective employees to have over 7 years of experience in IT management, and some soft skills (trust, reliability, work ethic, honesty, team chemistry, etc).

Getting certified is the best way to increase your chances of being a successful CISO for a company. The industry leading certification for this function is the CCISO (Certified Chief Information Security Officer) by EC-Council.

EC-Council’s Certified Chief Information Security Officer (C|CISO) program is aimed at producing top-level information security executives, focusing on five domains (governance, security risk management, controls, and audit management, security program management and operations, information security core concepts, and finance) to bring together all the components required for a C-Level position. These five domains were mapped in alignment to the NICE Cybersecurity Workforce Framework (NCWF), with the aspiring CISO in mind, focusing on the most critical aspects of an information security program.

Make the Right Decision

It doesn't matter if you're starting or are an established company, you will need a Virtual CISO at some point. They help improve daily business operations, require fewer costs than employees, and can help bolster your team's productivity.

If you do decide to get one, make sure that they fit the requirements of your organization and can work well with your team.