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Security Consulting
and vCISO

Not every organization is ready for a full-time security executive. We embed as a fractional CISO, owning your security program, advising the board, and keeping your posture aligned with the actual threat landscape.

Engagement
Fractional CISO
Model
Fully Embedded

Security leadership
without the overhead

A qualified CISO costs between $250,000 and $400,000 per year in total compensation. Most organizations that need security executive leadership, including mid-market companies, growth-stage firms, and regulated entities without dedicated security staff, cannot justify that expenditure before they have matured their program.

The fractional CISO model gives you principal-level security leadership at a fraction of that cost. We own your security program the same way a full-time CISO would, with the operational depth of a team that has built and run the technical stack, not just managed it from a strategic distance.

Security program ownership: strategy, roadmap, vendor selection, and execution
Board-level security reporting and risk communication in business language
Policy framework development: security policy, incident response, acceptable use
Compliance program support: SOC 2, NIST CSF, CMMC, HIPAA security rules
Vendor and tool evaluation with technical depth, not marketing assessment

The scope of a
NorthQuinn vCISO engagement

01
Security Program Strategy
A multi-year security roadmap built around your actual risk profile, not a generic maturity model. We identify the highest-priority gaps, sequence remediation by risk reduction per dollar, and maintain a living roadmap that adjusts as your business and threat landscape evolve.
02
Board and Executive Communication
Security risk translated into business impact and financial exposure for board-level audiences. Quarterly security reporting, incident briefings, and program status updates in language that enables business decisions, not technical reports that no one reads.
03
Policy Framework Development
Information security policy, acceptable use policy, incident response policy, data classification framework, and vendor risk management program, all developed to your regulatory context and operational reality, not copied from a generic template that no one in your organization will follow.
04
Compliance Program Support
SOC 2 Type II readiness, NIST Cybersecurity Framework implementation, CMMC preparation, and HIPAA Security Rule compliance programs built with the technical controls actually implemented, not gap assessments that stop at the recommendation stage and leave implementation to your team.
05
Vendor and Tool Evaluation
Security vendor selection with technical depth that marketing assessments cannot provide. We evaluate products against your actual threat model, test claims against evidence, and recommend based on operational fit, not analyst ratings or sales relationships.
06
Incident Response Ownership
When incidents occur, we own the response: coordinating technical investigation, managing external communications, briefing legal counsel, and driving remediation. You do not manage a third-party forensic firm through a crisis. We manage the crisis.

Organizations where
a vCISO fits

01
Growth-Stage Companies Facing Compliance Requirements

SOC 2, CMMC, or enterprise customer security questionnaires that require demonstrated program maturity. We build the program and own the compliance process so your engineering team can focus on the product.

02
Organizations After a Security Incident

Post-incident, the immediate need is both remediation and program rebuild. We handle both: closing the gaps that led to the incident and building the security function that prevents the next one.

03
Mid-Market Companies Without Dedicated Security Staff

IT teams managing security as a secondary function are not equipped to own a program against sophisticated threats. We provide the security leadership function at a cost that fits before a full-time CISO hire is justified.

04
Government Contractors Pursuing or Maintaining Clearance Programs

CMMC and classified environment security requirements demand both technical implementation and documentation discipline. We bring operational security experience to the technical requirements that compliance consultants typically cannot address at depth.

Ready for security leadership?

Tell us where your program stands. We will tell you what it needs to get to where it should be.

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