Virtual CISO and cybersecurity consulting
Practical security leadership, without a full-time CISO
ACS Cyber provides virtual CISO (vCISO) services and cybersecurity consulting to small and midsize organizations nationwide. Your vCISO assesses risk, sets priorities, writes policies, prepares you for incidents and reports progress to leadership in plain business language.
- Fractional security leadership
- Risk assessments
- Security roadmaps
- Policies and standards
- Incident-response planning
- Tabletop exercises
At a glance
Virtual CISO services, in brief
What it is: A virtual CISO is an experienced security leader who owns your security program on a fractional basis. You get the direction, accountability and executive reporting of a chief information security officer (CISO) without a full-time executive hire.
Who it is for: Small and midsize organizations without a dedicated security leader, including those with internal IT or an outside IT provider, and those answering to insurers, customers, regulators or a board.
What ACS Cyber does: We assess risk, build a prioritized roadmap, write policies, plan for incidents, run tabletop exercises and report to leadership. When the roadmap calls for hands-on work, our security engineers and Atlantic Computer Systems IT engineers can carry it out.
How to start: Book a free 30-minute consultation or call 1-650-300-7557. Many organizations begin with a risk assessment and roadmap, then decide whether ongoing vCISO leadership is the right fit.
About ACS Cyber
ACS Cyber is the managed security services provider (MSSP) and cybersecurity division of Atlantic Computer Systems, with an in-house 24/7 SOC.
We provide nationwide support, headquartered in San Jose, California, with an office hub in Boston.
- Human-led investigation by our in-house SOC analysts
- In-house forensic investigation when an incident happens
- 24/7 incident line: 1-650-300-7557
Is this you?
When organizations bring in a virtual CISO
Advisory engagements often begin with a specific question from leadership, a customer or an insurer.
A security questionnaire landed on your desk
An insurer or a major client wants accurate answers about MFA, backups, incident response and policies, and nobody owns the response.
Leadership wants a straight answer
Owners, partners or the board are asking how exposed the organization is and what it would take to improve, while your IT team is busy keeping daily operations running.
Your IT provider handles tickets, not strategy
Systems keep running, but no one sets security priorities, measures progress or decides which risks are acceptable as the business grows.
You have just been through an incident
The immediate crisis is over, and leadership wants to know why it happened and how to keep it from happening again. A vCISO turns lessons learned into a funded plan.
Comparison
vCISO compared with a full-time CISO, an IT account manager or a consultant
These roles answer different questions. An IT account manager keeps your IT service running. A CISO, full-time or virtual, is responsible for whether your security program actually reduces risk.
| Role | What it is responsible for | Typical fit |
|---|---|---|
| Virtual CISO (fractional) | Owns the security program part time: risk, priorities, policies, incident readiness and executive reporting | Organizations that need security leadership and accountability, but not a full-time executive |
| Full-time CISO | Leads security as a dedicated executive, usually with a security staff | Larger or heavily regulated organizations with enough security work for a full-time leader and team |
| IT account manager at an MSP | Manages the IT service relationship: tickets, projects, renewals and service reviews | Any organization with an IT provider; complements security leadership rather than replacing it |
| One-time security consultant | Delivers a defined project, such as an assessment or a policy set, then steps away | A single deliverable with no need for ongoing ownership |
If Atlantic Computer Systems also manages your IT, your vCISO still reports gaps plainly, including gaps in work our own teams perform.
What’s included
Advisory services that cover the whole security program
Every engagement is scoped to what your organization needs. Many combine ongoing leadership with several of the services below.
Security program development
We build or restructure your program around a recognized framework, usually NIST CSF 2.0, so responsibilities, controls and reviews have a clear structure.
Fractional security leadership
Your vCISO joins leadership conversations, owns the security agenda with you and is your point of contact for security decisions.
Executive reporting
Concise reports on risk, progress and open decisions, written for owners, executives and boards rather than engineers.
Risk assessments
A structured review of systems, data, people and vendors that identifies the risks most likely to disrupt the business, ranked by impact.
Policies and standards
Written policies for access, acceptable use, data handling, incident response and vendors, sized to your organization and how it works.
Security roadmaps
A prioritized plan for the year ahead that sequences projects by risk reduction, cost and effort, with an owner for each.
Vendor-risk reviews
Reviews of the software providers and partners that hold your data or connect to your systems, with practical follow-up actions.
Tabletop exercises
Facilitated incident scenarios for leadership and staff, followed by a written after-action summary and plan updates.
Cyber-insurance preparation
Help answering application and renewal questions accurately and closing the control gaps carriers commonly ask about. We do not sell insurance.
Incident-response planning
A written plan with roles, contacts, decision points and first steps, connected to our incident response team.
Microsoft 365 security strategy
A plan for identity, multifactor authentication, Conditional Access, admin roles, email authentication and sharing, matched to the licenses you already own.
Budget and technology prioritization
Guidance on where security spending reduces the most risk, which tools overlap and when an existing investment is already enough.
Incident readiness
Incident-response planning and tabletop exercises
An incident-response plan is a short written guide that says who decides what, who to call and what to do first when a security incident happens. A tabletop exercise is a facilitated discussion in which leadership and key staff walk through a realistic scenario, such as ransomware or a fraudulent wire request, to test that plan before it is needed.
Your vCISO writes the plan with you, reflects the notification steps in your cyber-insurance policy, lists your legal counsel and puts our 24/7 incident line at the top. We then run the exercise, record what worked and what did not, and update the plan.
If your organization has just been through an incident, planning starts with what happened. Our incident responders contain the threat and investigate in-house, working alongside an insurer-assigned response firm where your policy permits. Your vCISO then turns the findings into a roadmap to help keep it from happening again. See how we help organizations that have been compromised.
What a good plan covers
- Decision-makers, roles and backups
- Contacts for your insurer, legal counsel and key vendors
- First steps for ransomware, business email compromise and account takeover
- When to call the 24/7 incident line
- Evidence preservation basics
- Communication steps for staff, clients and partners
How the engagement works
From first conversation to a working security program
The sequence is the same whether you start with a single assessment or ongoing vCISO leadership.
01
Understand
We meet with leadership and IT to learn how the business runs, which data matters, which obligations apply and what controls already exist.
02
Assess
We perform a risk assessment, review current controls against an appropriate framework and explain the findings in plain language.
03
Prioritize
Together we decide which risks to address first, then build a roadmap and budget that fit how your organization actually operates.
04
Lead
Your vCISO guides the work: drafting policies, reviewing vendors, overseeing projects and coordinating with your IT team or ours.
05
Report and improve
Regular executive reporting, periodic reassessments and tabletop exercises keep the program current as the business and the threats change.
Deliverables
What you receive
Advisory work produces documents your organization keeps, uses and can share with insurers, auditors and customers.
- Risk assessment report with findings ranked by business impact
- Risk register recording each risk, its owner and the decision taken
- Security roadmap with sequenced projects, owners and budget guidance
- Policies and standards tailored to your operations
- Executive reports on progress, open risks and decisions needed
- Incident-response plan with roles, contacts and escalation steps
- Tabletop after-action summaries with improvement actions
- Vendor-risk records for your critical providers
- Microsoft 365 security recommendations in priority order
- Insurance and questionnaire support based on documented controls
One accountable team
Clear roles from strategy to hands-on work
Advice only helps when someone carries it out. ACS Cyber connects security leadership with the people who implement and monitor controls, while your decision-makers stay in charge of risk.
Atlantic Computer Systems provides managed IT, including helpdesk, Microsoft 365 administration, cloud, networks, VoIP and IT logistics, so security fixes are carried through in the underlying IT rather than left on a list. Atlantic Computer Systems, our parent company, also offers vCISO leadership as part of a fractional cybersecurity team. Learn about Atlantic Computer Systems.
01
Virtual CISO
Leads the security program, sets priorities with you and reports to your leadership.
02
Security analysts and engineers
Perform the technical assessments, configuration reviews and testing that inform the roadmap.
03
IT and remediation engineers
Atlantic Computer Systems engineers implement roadmap items, or we coordinate with your internal IT team or current provider.
04
Your leadership
Makes the business decisions: which risks to accept, which to reduce and what to fund.
05
Your legal counsel and insurer
Advise on legal obligations and coverage. We prepare the technical information they need and coordinate with them when you ask us to.
Framework alignment
How advisory work maps to NIST CSF 2.0
We often use the NIST Cybersecurity Framework (CSF) 2.0 to organize a security program. It gives leadership a shared vocabulary and makes progress easy to track.
| CSF function | What it covers | How vCISO work supports it |
|---|---|---|
| Govern | Strategy, roles, policy, risk tolerance and supply-chain risk | Program structure, policies, risk register, vendor-risk reviews and executive reporting |
| Identify | Understanding assets, data, risks and improvement needs | Risk assessments, asset and data reviews, and roadmap planning |
| Protect | Safeguards for identity, data, platforms and people | Microsoft 365 security strategy, control priorities and awareness training planning |
| Detect | Finding and analyzing possible attacks | Monitoring requirements and coordination with managed detection and response |
| Respond | Actions taken during an incident | Incident-response planning and tabletop exercises |
| Recover | Restoring operations after an incident | Recovery priorities, backup expectations and lessons-learned reviews |
The same work can be mapped to the CIS Controls, HIPAA, PCI DSS, SOC 2 or CMMC when they apply. See risk and compliance readiness. Aligning with a framework is not the same as certification.
Not sure where to start?
In a free 30-minute consultation, we will listen to what is prompting the question and suggest a sensible first step.
Related services
Put the roadmap into practice
Risk and compliance
Readiness and remediation for HIPAA, PCI DSS, SOC 2, CMMC and cyber-insurance requirements.
Vulnerability management
Scanning and in-house penetration testing that give your roadmap real evidence.
Incident response
In-house investigation and containment when an incident happens, guided by the plan you built in advance.
FAQ
Virtual CISO questions
A virtual CISO is an experienced security leader who runs your organization’s security program on a fractional, part-time basis. The vCISO sets priorities, owns policies and risk decisions with leadership and reports progress, without the commitment of a full-time executive hire.
ACS Cyber, the cybersecurity division of Atlantic Computer Systems, provides virtual CISO services for small and midsize organizations. We provide nationwide support, headquartered in San Jose, California, with an office hub in Boston.
Often, yes. An IT provider keeps systems running and completes projects. A vCISO decides which security risks matter most, sets the program’s direction and checks whether controls are working, including the ones your provider operates. We work alongside internal IT teams and outside providers. If you also need IT leadership, Atlantic Computer Systems, our parent company, offers fractional IT services with virtual CIO leadership.
Cost depends on scope: how much ongoing leadership you need and which assessments, policies or exercises are included. After a free 30-minute consultation, we provide a written proposal scoped to your organization.
A tabletop exercise is a facilitated, discussion-based rehearsal of a security incident. Leadership and key staff walk through a realistic scenario, such as ransomware or a fraudulent payment request, to test decisions, contacts and the incident-response plan without touching live systems.
Yes. Once the threat is contained and the investigation is complete, whether by our in-house incident responders or a response firm your insurer assigned, your vCISO turns the findings into a prioritized plan, updates policies and the incident-response plan and reports progress to leadership.
If an incident is happening now, call our 24/7 incident line at 1-650-300-7557 or see Have you been compromised?
Yes. We review the questions with you, confirm what is actually in place and help close the gaps carriers commonly ask about, such as MFA, endpoint protection, backups and training. We do not sell insurance, and underwriting decisions belong to your carrier. Our cyber-insurance readiness guide covers the common questions.
No. We explain security controls, risks and how they relate to frameworks. For legal interpretation of regulations, contracts or notification duties, work with your legal counsel. We are glad to provide the technical facts counsel needs.
Book a free 30-minute consultation. We will discuss what prompted the question, your environment and any deadlines, then recommend a practical first step, often a risk assessment and roadmap. Please do not include passwords, health information or financial records in the booking form.
Next step
Give your security program a clear owner
Talk with ACS Cyber about where your organization stands, what to fix first and how fractional security leadership could fit. If you are dealing with an active incident, call our 24/7 incident line or visit Active Incident Support.