Do You Need a Chief Security Officer?

You are unlikely to protect yourself from a state actor, but the vast majority of breaches are far less organized hackers looking for easy targets. This means that you need to have defenses that are stronger than your neighbors on the Internet. And, since everything in the world is equidistant on the Internet, you have a lot of neighbors!

The damage and embarrassment of a breach are often under-estimated. Let’s assume you understand the risk. What can you do about it? First, let’s review.  

You’ve likely done many things:

• Hired a Chief Information Officer or IT Director
• Your team has good technology: good firewalls, anti-virus, employee training, malware protection, intruder detection technology, cybersecurity vulnerability scanning, and much more. Although, many wonder, do they have enough?
• You may have an outside firm that does audits and provides some of the cybersecurity know-how.

   

Are you safe?

Maybe. Is maybe good enough?

The challenge is that too many organizations, including tribes, have been hacked in the past year with all the aforementioned systems and staff in place.

What’s missing?

You may be paying for a highly skilled CIO or IT Director. But, it’s not enough. Here’s why:

• It’s impossible to stay apprised of all the changes and threats in the cybersecurity world. A CIO or IT director is busy with tactical issues and is probably continuously training on a large number of topics. However, being a good CSO is a full-time job. It’s a specialty.
• Even if you have high-end hardware, software, and processes, all can be circumvented if you aren’t aware of the latest attack vectors used by hackers.
• Outside vendors often have “tunnel vision,” looking at the problem from their specific set of solutions and following the directions of the CIO or IT director.
• It’s challenging to know if you have all the elements of a good defense. Are you missing some critical software or hardware solution to keep you safe? Is your existing solution properly used? Is the proper training performed to use all the elements efficiently?

   

A full-time, qualified CSO is expensive. A fractional CSO can provide you with additional knowledge to greatly reduce your risk and give you peace of mind.

Some advantages of a fractional CSO:

• Experience in multiple organizations gives access to a wide range of solutions and strategies.

The right fractional CSO knows how to help your existing staff flesh out their processes and knowledge and be a “team player.” 

• They exist to help your team succeed, not be in the limelight.
• They can create a tactical and strategic plan that further improves your defensive posture. 

Money doesn’t always deliver the best solution. 

• A good CSO will find the right solution for your size organization and understand your appetite for risk.

We can provide you with a highly experience fractional CSO, one that top Fortune 100 companies and government organizations rely on for their security.

• A friendly, team-player, that will work with your team to understand their greatest concerns.
• Help your team bridge the “what we don’t know we don’t know” gap and suggest solutions and processes that increase security.
• Develop the plans and justifications, if needed, for additional security measures. And, often, find cost-effective solutions to reduce risk.