vCISO / Fractional CISO
A named senior security leader who owns strategy, compliance, board reporting, and incident command. Billed monthly, not by headcount.
// Overview
Our virtual CISO practice gives SMBs and growth-stage companies a named security leader who owns strategy, compliance, board reporting, and incident command. Billed by the month, not the headcount.
Three engagement tiers (Advisor, Fractional, Embedded) flex from ~8 hours per month up to full embedded leadership for regulated industries or post-incident rebuilds.
Every vCISO engagement includes a documented security roadmap mapped to your business objectives, a quarterly board deck, ownership of your compliance program, and named incident command during active events.
// Who it's for
Built for teams that look like this.
- Post-Series A SaaS chasing SOC 2 / HIPAA without a security hire
- Regulated SMBs (FinServ, healthtech, fintech) needing named leadership
- Companies recovering from an incident or a failed audit
// How we engage
A four-phase engagement.
- 01 · Discovery
Two-week deep-dive on environment, compliance posture, and board concerns. Output: an engagement plan and tier recommendation.
- 02 · 90-day reset
Policy library, risk register, control mapping, and the first board deck. Most clients see immediate audit-readiness wins.
- 03 · Program operate
Weekly leadership cadence, ownership of compliance milestones, vendor reviews, and incident readiness drills.
- 04 · Board & exit
Quarterly board reporting, M&A diligence support, and an explicit hand-off plan when you hire your full-time CISO.
// Proof
Related case studies
// FAQ
Common questions.
When does a vCISO make more sense than a full-time hire?
Until you have a security team of 3 to 5 engineers and a $1M+ budget, a full-time CISO is usually under-utilized. A vCISO gives you 15+ years of senior leadership at a fraction of the cost.
Can a Dephiant vCISO be named in our SOC 2 report?
Yes. In Fractional and Embedded engagements we are your named security leader, sign management assertions, and serve as the auditor's primary point of contact.
How fast can you start?
Typical kickoff is two weeks from signed SOW. Emergency engagements (active incident, failed audit, lost CISO) start within 48 hours.
// Related modules
Pair with
Cyber Intelligence
Automated threat hunting across surface and deep web vectors, tailored to your IP range and industry vertical.
Cloud Security
Hardened posture management for AWS, Azure, and GCP with continuous configuration drift detection and automated remediation.
AI Guardrails
Testing and securing LLM integrations against prompt injection, jailbreaks, data exfiltration, and tool-abuse vectors.
Ready to scope vCISO / Fractional CISO?
A free 20-minute call gets you a written scoping note, named lead, and rough quote. No procurement loop required.