CISO-as-a-Service: senior security leadership on a subscription.
The productized version of a vCISO retainer. Defined tiers, transparent pricing, month-to-month, no annual contract. Same engagement that any other firm would call vCISO or fractional CISO; we ship it with SaaS-style pricing clarity.
Three offers: $3,000/mo Advisory vCISO when your team executes, $5,000/mo Managed vCISO when we own the program, and Embedded vCISO from $10,000/mo for hands-on weekly leadership.
What CISO-as-a-Service includes.
Same scope as any senior CISO. Six work areas, owned end to end.
Strategic security roadmap
A 12-month roadmap ranked by ROI per dollar spent and tied to actual business drivers: audit dates, customer contracts, board asks, M&A diligence.
Compliance program ownership
SOC 2 Type I and II, ISO 27001:2022, HIPAA, PCI DSS 4.0, CMMC Level 2, NIST CSF. The vCISO signs the management representation letter and owns the auditor relationship.
Policy authoring and governance
Information security, access management, secure SDLC, IR, vendor management, BCP and DR. Written to match how your team operates.
Vendor and customer questionnaires
Inbound customer security questionnaires, vendor inventory, third-party risk reviews. Vanta, Drata, SecurityScorecard, Whistic, OneTrust covered.
Board and investor reporting
Quarterly board presentations and investor diligence support in language your CFO and CRO both understand. Decks reusable for the next raise.
Incident response leadership
Pre-written runbooks, semi-annual tabletop exercises, on-call leadership during real incidents.
Three tiers, transparent pricing.
Advisory vCISO
Monthly senior guidance for teams that execute internally. Roadmap, policy and control review, compliance direction, and executive recommendations.
- Monthly security and risk review
- 12-month security roadmap
- Policy and control review
- Compliance and audit guidance
- Executive-ready recommendations
- 48-hour response SLA
Managed vCISO
Biweekly working cadence with ownership of the security and compliance program. The default engagement for most teams.
- Monthly security reviews
- Policy authoring
- Customer questionnaire response
- Annual IR + DR tabletop
- 24-hour response SLA
- Slack and email access
Embedded vCISO
Hands-on leadership for audit prep, M&A, and complex programs. Weekly cadence. The default for Series B and C in regulated industries.
- Everything in Managed, plus:
- Weekly syncs and embedded availability
- Board and investor briefings
- Compliance platform admin
- Same-day response SLA
- On-call IR leadership
Three levels. One month-to-month model.
Advisory vCISO starts at $3,000/mo, Managed vCISO starts at $5,000/mo, and Embedded vCISO is custom scoped and typically starts around $10,000/mo. Choose based on how much security ownership your team wants to delegate.
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Common questions about CISO-as-a-Service.
What is CISO-as-a-Service?
CISO-as-a-Service is the productized version of a vCISO retainer. Defined tiers, predictable pricing, repeatable scope, month-to-month contracts. The framing borrows from SaaS pricing language to set buyer expectations: clear tier boundaries, transparent costs, no "contact for quote" gates. The underlying work is identical to any other senior virtual CISO engagement.
How is CISO-as-a-Service different from vCISO or fractional CISO?
Same engagement, different framing. CISOaaS emphasizes productization (defined tiers, predictable cost, repeatable scope). vCISO emphasizes the role itself. Fractional CISO emphasizes time commitment. We use vCISO because it is the most-searched term and the cleanest description, but the work is the same regardless of which term a buyer uses to find it.
What are your CISO-as-a-Service tiers?
Three month-to-month tiers based on ownership: Advisory vCISO at $3,000/month when your team executes, Managed vCISO at $5,000/month when we run the program, and Embedded vCISO from $10,000/month when we join the weekly operating cadence and lead hands-on execution.
Can I change tiers mid-engagement?
Yes. Tier changes are renegotiated openly and take effect the following month. Clients can move among Advisory, Managed, and Embedded as internal capacity, audit load, or operating needs change.
Is CISO-as-a-Service month-to-month?
Yes. Every engagement is month-to-month with 30 days notice to cancel. No annual minimums, auto-renewal, or lock-in.
What is included in each tier?
Advisory includes monthly senior review, roadmap, policy and control review, compliance guidance, and a 48-hour response SLA. Managed adds biweekly working sessions, program administration, evidence, audit coordination, questionnaires, risk management, and executive reporting. Embedded adds weekly leadership, hands-on remediation, complex fieldwork, board participation, and same-day incident response.
What if my needs do not fit a standard tier?
Embedded vCISO is custom scoped and typically starts around $10,000 per month for full-program audit prep on tight timelines, M&A diligence, post-incident rebuilds, and other needs that require weekly hands-on leadership. Most companies fit Advisory or Managed.
How does this compare to compliance platforms like Vanta or Drata?
Compliance platforms are tools; CISO-as-a-Service is a person plus a program. The platform automates evidence collection. The vCISO writes policies, leads incident response, signs the management representation letter, takes board calls, and handles customer security questionnaires. They work together: most retainer clients use Vanta, Drata, or Secureframe, and we administer the platform as part of the Embedded vCISO engagement.