As a critical area of concern, cybersecurity requires an able and efficient leadership that makes strategic decisions concerning the company’s cybersecurity and thus keeps the company’s IT environment secure. The position, precisely, is termed Chief Information Security Officer (CISO). The ever-increasing number of cybersecurity instances have made CISOs a critical C-suite resource for every company, and hence having a CISO becomes imperative.
All said and done, recruiting a CISO isn’t as straightforward. Often, companies are found struggling with tapping the necessary talent, let alone hiring it. And, even if they do, an in-house CISO comes with a very high employment cost. Practically, nurturing a full-time in-house CISO proves challenging for small and medium-sized companies. Although cybersecurity is as crucial as a large-sized enterprise, cost often constitutes a daunting concern.
And, this isn’t just the concern with small and medium-sized companies, but with a lot of global organizations. Fortunately, companies do not have to live with these challenges, as they can now hire a virtual CISO. The decision to hire a virtual CISO proves advantageous in many ways. Alliant Cybersecurity, one of the top cybersecurity companies in the United States, explores five reasons to hire a virtual CISO and ensure efficient information security.
Who is a CISO, and what is a Virtual CISO?
A CISO shoulders various responsibilities. Some of them include crafting, and enforcing the overall cybersecurity strategy of a company, ensuring continuous improvement across the cybersecurity department, enhancing cybersecurity awareness, and developing contingency plans to help the organization deal with attacks and mitigate their impact to the highest possible extent. CISOs are C-level executives, and hence, their job usually involves strategy, decision-making, and enforcement.
Now, what is a virtual CISO? As stated earlier, many companies struggle to find CISOs, and those available, come with heavy salary expectations tethered to them. In situations like these, a virtual CISO forms a prudent alternative.
A virtual CISO is an outsourced infosec professional who offers time, recommendations, and crucial insights, usually on a virtual and remote basis. Cybersecurity companies provide virtual CISOs, and hence, when you partner with one, you can hire a VCISO through your cybersecurity service provider. Let us take a look at some benefits of VCISO.
5 Reasons Why You Need to Hire a Virtual CISO
Significant Cost-Savings
Hiring a full-time, in-house CISO on your own refers to undergoing a range of recruitment-related and administrative processes that include coordinating with HR agencies, pay them hiring fees, shortlist applications, interview candidates, pay them a six-figure salary, offer employment benefits, insurance, profit sharing, and provide company-specific training.
All these factors incur costs as well as time. However, outsourcing the CISO responsibility to an external agency proves a significant relief. All you need to do is to place your request and get the resource. Further, it does not require them to pay high salaries. Paying the outsourcing fee, which is significantly lesser than the salary offered to a full-time CISO, is the only expense that companies have to bear in this case.
Additionally, CISOs hired through cybersecurity companies do not require extensive training. They are experienced enough to take up production in a shorter duration and often do not necessarily require anything more than an acquaintance with the company’s cybersecurity landscape. These factors collectively save companies millions of dollars and hundreds of man-hours that they can otherwise use for critical tasks.
Access to Extensive Cybersecurity Expertise and Experience
Virtual CISOs hired on an outsourced basis through cybersecurity companies are experienced resources specializing in data security and the strategy associated with it. They have already worked with many companies and therefore bring a wealth of knowledge to the company’s table. Besides, they keep innovating strategies according to the emerging cybersecurity landscape while contributing what it takes to deliver the best results.
It isn’t that full-time CISOs underperform. But at times, and in challenging situations they haven’t been through earlier, they might require external help and advice. They would work as employees, unlike virtual CISOs to whom you are a client. In the latter case, a higher professional commitment is involved, and therefore to do everything to deliver the expected value is inevitable.
Higher Professional Flexibility
Another significant benefit of hiring a virtual CISO is that of enjoying a higher degree of professional flexibility than a full-time, in-house CISO. One of the first advantages in this regard is that you do not have to find a physical space and create an extensive budget for a new full-time employee. Additionally, the virtual CISO tailors cybersecurity strategies customized to your business.
Further, hiring and then laying off a virtual CISO is much easier and quicker. You can hire the resource for the first few months, leverage his expertise, get your strategies in place, enforce the cybersecurity policy, and then with business growth, you may hire a full-time resource. Similarly, you can try outsourcing the job to a virtual information security officer, evaluate his potential, assess the results he delivers, and then enter a multi-year agreement based on careful consideration. All these factors aren’t possible in the case of full-time employment.
Widespread Technical Contacts
Virtual CISOs are thorough professionals who do not confine themselves to technical or strategic expertise but have widespread contacts across the market and the industry. It helps them stay abreast of the latest cybersecurity trends, updates, etc., which, in turn, translate into various strategic and technical benefits for companies that hire them.
Continuous and Closer Monitoring of your Company’s Cybersecurity Aspect
VCISO programs involve employing a group of cybersecurity experts who keep a close and continuous watch on your network. Further, cybersecurity companies have alternate CISOs ready to serve you if the existing VCISO goes on leave or resigns with the cybersecurity provider. A close watch and a resource backup plan enable you to monitor your network continuously, thus protecting your network better and curbing security breaches and attacks.
Need a virtual CISO for your company? Partner with Alliant Cybersecurity. The company facilitates outsourced CISOs, specific to your cybersecurity needs and delivers better results and value. Write to Alliant’s experts at [email protected] to know more about how the company can prove helpful in your context.
