What is a virtual CISO?
A virtual CISO (also called a fractional CISO, outsourced CISO or CISO as a service) is a senior security leader engaged part-time. You get the judgement, credibility and accountability of an experienced CISO — for the days per month you actually need. For most small and mid-sized organisations, a fractional CISO delivers full security leadership at 20–40% of the cost of a permanent hire, with no recruitment lead time and no lock-in.
Built for the EMEA regulatory landscape
Security leadership in EMEA now carries legal weight. Our vCISO consultants own your obligations under:
NIS2
Management accountability, risk-management measures and incident reporting for essential and important entities across the EU.
DORA
ICT risk management, resilience testing and third-party oversight for financial entities and their critical providers.
GDPR & ISO 27001
Security of processing, breach notification, and ISMS certification — plus UK Cyber Essentials and Middle East national frameworks (NESA, SAMA, NCA).
What your fractional CISO delivers
Strategy & governance
- Security strategy and costed multi-year roadmap
- Security charter, policies and standards
- Board and audit committee reporting
Risk & compliance
- Risk register ownership and risk appetite
- GDPR, NIS2, DORA, ISO 27001 programmes
- Customer and regulator due diligence responses
Operational leadership
- Incident response planning and post-incident review
- Third-party and supply chain risk management
- Security input to projects, cloud and M&A
Service tiers
| Tier | Cadence | Typical fit |
|---|---|---|
| Foundation | 2 days / month | Establish governance, policy framework, risk register and board reporting. |
| Growth | 4 days / month | Active programme leadership, ISO 27001 or NIS2 compliance programme, vendor risk. |
| Enterprise | 8+ days / month | Near-embedded CISO for regulated entities: DORA obligations, incident readiness, team leadership. |
Every tier: fixed monthly fee, a named consultant with a named deputy, defined service levels, and a 30-day exit. Delivered remotely across EMEA time zones with quarterly on-site options.
Your first 90 days
Security posture assessment and gap analysis
Risk register and agreed risk appetite statement
12–24 month costed security roadmap
Board reporting pack and incident response plan
From day 91, you run a security programme — not a to-do list.
Why CyberShield Corporate
Independent
No affiliations with product vendors or system integrators — advice without bias.
Proven
Practitioners who have secured critical national infrastructure, banks, insurers and utilities.
Cloud-native
Deep experience across the Microsoft, AWS and Google security stacks.