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.
Four offers: a $2,500 SOC 2 Sprint to test fit, a $24,000 90-Day Foundation to build the program from scratch, $5,000/mo Strategic vCISO for ongoing program ownership, and custom-scoped Embedded vCISO for hands-on weekly engagement. Founding cohort pricing cuts the Strategic retainer in half for the first 12 months.
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.
SOC 2 Sprint
Two-week productized engagement. The way to test fit before signing a retainer. Pentest included. Credited toward retainer.
- Kickoff call, scope confirmation
- SOC 2 gap analysis
- Light pentest
- Policy gap inventory
- Executive readout deck
- Credited toward retainer
Strategic vCISO
Monthly cadence. Strategic ownership and program building. The default retainer for most growth-stage companies.
- Monthly security reviews
- Policy authoring
- Customer questionnaire response
- Annual IR + DR tabletop
- 48-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 Strategic, plus:
- Weekly syncs and embedded availability
- Board and investor briefings
- Compliance platform admin
- Same-day response SLA
- On-call IR leadership
50% off the Strategic vCISO retainer for 12 months.
Strategic vCISO at $2,500/mo (was $5,000), locked for 12 months. Plus the SOC 2 Sprint at $500. Embedded vCISO is custom-scoped and negotiated case-by-case for cohort members. Trade: testimonial, case study rights, and willingness to take a reference call from future prospects. Year two reverts to list pricing.
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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?
Four offers: SOC 2 Sprint (one-time, $2,500, two-week productized engagement), 90-Day vCISO Foundation (one-time, $24,000, 90-day program build), Strategic vCISO retainer ($5,000/mo, monthly cadence), and Embedded vCISO retainer (custom-scoped, weekly cadence with on-call IR). Founding cohort pricing puts the Strategic vCISO retainer at $2,500/mo for 12 months in exchange for a testimonial and case study rights; Embedded is negotiated case-by-case for cohort members.
Can I change tiers mid-engagement?
Yes. Tier changes are renegotiated openly and take effect the following month. Most clients start at Strategic vCISO and graduate to Embedded as their compliance scope expands or as enterprise pipeline pressure increases customer questionnaire volume. Some go the other direction: Embedded for the audit push, Strategic for steady-state maintenance afterward.
Is CISO-as-a-Service month-to-month?
Yes. Every retainer is month-to-month with 30 days notice to cancel. No annual minimums, no auto-renewal, no lock-in. The Founding Cohort 12-month founder rate is a discount commitment from us, not a contract obligation from you. You can cancel any time.
What is included in each tier?
SOC 2 Sprint: gap analysis, policy inventory, light pentest, exec readout. Strategic vCISO: monthly security reviews, policy authoring, customer questionnaires, annual IR + DR tabletop, 48-hour response SLA. Embedded vCISO: everything in Strategic plus weekly syncs, board briefings, compliance platform admin (Vanta, Drata, Secureframe), 24-hour response SLA. See the full pricing page for the line-by-line breakdown.
What if my needs do not fit a standard tier?
The Embedded vCISO retainer is custom-scoped for these needs: full-program audit prep on tight timelines, M&A diligence support, post-incident program rebuilds. Pricing is quoted to scope on application. Most companies fit Strategic vCISO; Embedded exists for the few that do not.
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.