Virtual CISO (vCISO) Services

Virtual CISO services that ship.Virtual CISO services that ship.

Practitioner-led virtual CISO services for teams that need senior security leadership without the full-time hire.Virtual CISO services from a practitioner-led firm. Compliance readiness, penetration testing, and embedded security leadership for SMBs, growth-stage startups, and established teams that need senior firepower without the long hiring cycle.

  • Senior practitioner on every engagement
  • Focused projects or ongoing program ownership
  • Month-to-month, cancel with 30 days notice

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Practitioner-led.
CISSP · OSCP · CREST

Pittsburgh-based.
Clients nationwide.

Framework-agnostic.
SOC 2 · ISO 27001

Month-to-month.
Cancel anytime.

Your first 30 days

From ambiguity to an operating plan.

The depth depends on the engagement level and agreed scope, but the first month follows a consistent sequence: understand the business, examine the technology, prioritize the work, and establish an accountable operating cadence.

First 30 days, discovery and review

Days 1–5 · Business and technical discovery

We map business commitments, critical systems, data flows, access paths, owners, and deadlines. The engagement starts with the reality of how your company operates—not a generic control checklist.

Days 5–10 · Architecture and control review

We review architecture, identity, cloud configuration, control evidence, and exposed attack paths. Technical validation is planned around material risk and the scope we agree together.

First 30 days, prioritization and operating cadence

Days 10–20 · Prioritized security backlog

Findings become an owned, sequenced plan—not a static assessment deck. Each priority has a risk rationale, accountable owner, target window, and agreed approach to technical validation.

Days 20–30 · Executive readout and cadence

Leadership gets the decisions, accepted risks, metrics, and next 60–90 days in plain language. We establish the working sessions, reporting rhythm, and escalation path that keep the program moving.

What we deliver

Audit-ready, attacker-tested.

Compliance work and offensive testing are usually two firms with two contracts. We run both inside one engagement, so the controls we implement reflect what an attacker would actually try.

Framework-native compliance

SOC 2, ISO 27001, HIPAA, PCI DSS, CMMC, NIST CSF. We run all of them. Most engagements start with SOC 2; frameworks stack cleanly when customer contracts require more.

Attacker-eyed security

Technical validation tied to the engagement roadmap. Continuous attack surface monitoring when in scope. Findings get prioritized by exploitability, not by CVSS severity rating.

What a retainer actually covers.

Security programs are continuous, not one-off. The ownership level changes by engagement, and the scope shifts as your program matures, but the working areas below stay connected. It is the full scope of our virtual CISO services, whether you call it a vCISO or a fractional CISO.

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Policy authoring + access reviews

Real policies that match how your team actually operates. Quarterly access reviews with signed attestations from each system owner.

Vendor risk + customer questionnaires + trust center

Vendor inventory, tiering, and ongoing risk monitoring. Customer security questionnaires answered. Trust center kept current.

Audit support + evidence management

Auditor walkthroughs, control design defense, evidence curated across the audit window. We sit the meetings with you, not hand off a binder.

Vulnerability scanning + attack surface management

Continuous scanning that catches net-new exposures between pentests. Recurring authenticated scans on internal infra.

Endpoint and identity advisory

MDM and endpoint hardening. Identity provider audit, SSO and MFA enforcement, privileged access reviews.

Incident response + tabletops

Runbooks for the most likely scenarios. Annual tabletop with engineering and leadership.

Strategic roadmap + board briefings

Threat-informed 12-month roadmap. Board-grade briefings on cadence. Updates evolve with the program.

Pricing

A clear first phase. Accountable follow-through.

Choose the level of ownership your team needs. Every option is senior-led and month to month, from strategic guidance to hands-on security leadership. See the full vCISO cost guide for where these rates sit in the wider market.

Two ways to engage

Start with the shape of the problem—not a tier chart.

You do not need to estimate hours or pick a package before we understand the work. Send the essentials and receive a written recommendation with a working price range.

A defined outcome with a clear finish line

Focused project

Start here when you need an assessment, validation, or bounded security initiative rather than an open-ended retainer.

  • Security or compliance gap assessment
  • Penetration test or technical review
  • Post-incident security improvement plan
  • Audit readiness or control remediation sprint
  • Prioritized roadmap with executive readout

Fixed-fee or capped pricing when the scope supports it.

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Security leadership that stays accountable

Ongoing program ownership

Use an ongoing engagement when the work requires recurring ownership, cross-functional coordination, and a durable operating cadence.

  • vCISO and security-program leadership
  • SOC 2, ISO 27001, HIPAA, or NIS2 management
  • Risk register, policies, evidence, and reporting
  • Audit, customer, and parent-company coordination
  • Technical remediation planning and oversight

Monthly scope based on complexity, cadence, and hands-on execution.

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Final pricing depends on the environment, deadlines, testing boundaries, compliance obligations, implementation needs, and response expectations. The initial recommendation is free and does not require a sales call.

Frequently asked

What buyers ask first.

The short answers to the questions that come up in most buying decisions. The full set is on the FAQ page.

See all 34 questions

Ready when you are

Start with the essentials.

Share the essentials once. You'll receive a recommended starting scope, a working price range, and any focused questions needed to finalize it within 24 hours.