Our clients face tremendous security pressures today. Think about it for a minute.
Some security-minded clients expect that they are following compliance requirements. Others are concerned about their data security, their reputation and that they are doing enough to avoid or prevent a ransomware attack or data breach.
Wherever on the spectrum of security-focused or security-aware your client falls, one thing is clear. Today is the right time for them to have a leader—a virtual chief security officer (vCSO) help guide them through the security mine field.
Regardless of your client’s size, the most effective way for them to tap into a senior-level position that is both hard to fill and hard to implement and retain is to enable their security program through a vCSO offering.
The vCSO would be the person helping to direct security-related decisions, answering C-Suite and board-level questions and working with company-wide departments to improve security across their operations. Having this vCSO in place helps companies communicate and understand that someone is dedicated and actively working on improving their security posture, rather than simply having day-to-day IT work running.
Just to clarify why a CSO is needed even when a CIO is in place, let me give you a quick analogy. The CIO is making sure operations is working and that IT is supporting business objectives. The CIO would be similar to a car—making sure that you were able to get from point A to point B. Now let’s consider your critical business data the passenger—or even your baby. You really are interested in taking the baby from your house to day care, but you’re even more interested in that baby not getting hurt in the process. To protect your baby, you’ve invested in a special car seat that has been shown to be 99% effective at keeping it unharmed when your car is in motion.
That car seat is the CSO. The CSO has the unique position of making sure that the critical stuff is getting protected, much more so than the CIO is capable of doing because they need to make sure IT is supporting business needs.
Many businesses today want to make sure that their critical systems and data are secured and that’s why they need someone who is dedicated and focused on security advisory at the table. That’s exactly why your clients need a vCSO and why you can and should deliver a vCSO service.
The virtual CSO is much more than a technical role.
As the leader for your client’s security, you will need to be the person capable of talking across the entire organization—for beyond the IT department. Working with heads of other departments, you will need to be able to see how different business functions come together. You will build relationships across leadership and be able to advise the entire leadership team when it comes to data security.
To implement your vCSO offering, you need consistency and clarity.
If you’re thinking of the vCSO as a role that is reactively used ‘as-needed’, you’re not going to be very successful. The vCSO cannot function merely as a retainer-ed team member. Rather, you are architecting how security will protect business operations.
This will require consistent communications and careful explanations so leadership can be involved in making sound decisions regarding security risks.
Often your deliverables will consist of, but not be limited to:
- Board and C-suite presentations on the state of security.
- Risk assessments of the organization’s security risks.
- Compliance validation.
- On-going inspection of IT through security assessments and penetration tests.
If you aren’t offering your clients a leadership solution for cybersecurity, who will? Right now is your opportunity to solidify the leadership role within your client’s organizations and offer a vCSO solution they desperately need.
