Why You Need a Virtual CISO (vCISO)

Read the news in recent months, and you hear stories from Air Canada, Marriot, Equifax, British Airways. Each of these with a story on how cyber attacks impacted their organizations and caused them delays, costs and market impacts.

Of the last few years, cyber attacks have increased dramatically, impacting both large organizations and small. As the sophistication grows and the quantity increase, it is inevitable that all organizations will have a story similar to the ones we hear about in the news. 

Small and medium businesses (SMB) and non-profits are not immune to these threats. In Canada over 60% of SMB have had some form of threat and many negatively impacted either by costs or lost business. Many companies now realize that protecting their information, assets and business in this changing landscape will require risk-based, executive-level expertise, management and ownership that goes beyond their IT department.

Cybersecurity is a risk issue, not a technology problem. Companies need to be able to have resources capable of aligning security strategy with the core mission of the organization.

This is where a vCISO can help. A virtual CISO can help organizations that do not have the resources or in house expertise an ongoing leadership and comprehensive program. As a technical expert and senior leader in one, a vCISO can leverage their experience and skills to develop a comprehensive program that handles technology, process and people. They can also do it without the high costs of a full-time role that might be cost prohibitive or hard to find.

A virtual CISO offers a scalable approach that can vary month to month as the needs and priorities change. Working at both an operational and strategic level, and with a model built on a monthly retainer, a vCISO can be short or long term, enabling expertise to be available for all sizes or organizations at a cost that are manageable within any budget.