Today, information is everywhere, and cyber security has received lots of attention in the last few years; new information security standards are released or updated almost continuously (such as EU Data Protection Regulation, ISO27001 and PCI DSS), even then, regulation will only cover parts of the information assurance (IA) requirements.
Many organisations still rely on professionals in the IT department dedicated to the security of their infrastructure. However, the protection of data and resources has become an important issue for a wider range of individuals as well as legislation that pushes executives to consider security responsibilities for their organisation much more seriously.
This has meant that there has been a rise of the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) to executive levels; those organisations that previously relied on IT department personnel for security now require an individual dedicated solely to information assurance. The CISO role must therefore not only master the IA brief in full, but also understand all aspects of the business.
Given the world shortage in cyber security skills, unsurprisingly, these individuals can be hard to find and retain. The Equantiis vCISO (Virtual CISO) service is designed to offer a solution to fill vacancies where organisations lack designated individuals with the appropriate authority or expertise to carry out the security responsibilities required.
This service can offer several benefits:
- Time: Interim consultants can be in place within days which is essential when clients need high quality resources at short notice to avoid periods where key roles are unfilled.
- One constant: Not every consultant will be able to satisfy all cyber security challenges, or it may be a case that two or more specialist skills are required for one programme of works. The one constant simply means that with the vCISO role you are covered; if you need a technical resource as part of an audit programme, if you require a team of personnel to cover holidays or the loss of a senior cyber security position (which covers several cyber security roles) then this ensures you have cover.
- Experience: Equantiis consultants are highly experienced and can quickly understand the business needs; making an immediate impact, being productive from the outset. Our consultants work across the spectrum of strategy to project delivery and typically have a broad base of experience.
- Independence: Equantiis is independent of outsourcing firms and systems Integrators; no agenda other than the client’s agenda and consultants can be trusted to impartially manage a mixed supplier base.