What is an External CISO?
A Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) is responsible for an organization's overall information security strategy. For most SMEs, a full-time CISO is neither affordable nor necessary. The external CISO model provides you with exactly this expertise — flexibly, on a part-time or retainer basis, at a fraction of the cost.
What an external CISO does for you
- Information security strategy — defining and managing your security roadmap
- Risk management — identifying, assessing, and treating information security risks
- Security governance — policies, standards, guidelines, and their enforcement
- Vendor and supplier security — assessing third-party security posture
- ISO 27001 / ISMS — building and maintaining an ISMS where required
- Management reporting — regular security reports to leadership and the board
- Incident oversight — leading your security incident response
- Employee awareness — building a security-conscious culture
Who needs an external CISO?
You benefit from an external CISO if you: process sensitive data at scale; are pursuing ISO 27001 certification; face security questionnaires from enterprise customers; operate in a regulated industry; or simply want strategic oversight of your information security without the overhead of a full-time hire.