In practice, the roles between IT and cybersecurity professionals will overlap. Both approaches have the end goal of protecting sensitive company data- through a combination of technologies and physical processes. However, important differences apply to how each data security process is carried out.

In today’s market, a CISO can easily demand a $200-300,000 salary. Although many companies are starting to realize the value of what a CISO does they don’t always have the funds to bring one in-house. One way to lower the cost is to bring in a CISO in a fractional way, also known as a virtual CISO (vCISO).

A large portion of a CISO’s role is understanding company risks and cyber risks are a large part of that understanding. Staying abreast of the constantly changing threats and attacks and insuring strong defense against them, is nearly a full-time job. The CISO is also responsible for developing and implementing employee awareness training, certification compliance, and reporting metrics. To do all this well takes time and a CIO is already very busy.

While bringing in a new skillset to the company will be a great benefit, it is important to realize that executive leadership and vision isn’t always enough to get the job done, particularly when you are bringing them in part-time. If you are considering a CISO, you likely don’t have the staff to support that person either. They will need to implement and monitor controls, develop reports, and produce observations during compliance audits. The best options for vCISO services will likely come with supporting staff. You may pay more but likely bringing that staff in as fractional resources as well!

Yes, and there are many sources for outsourced IT called Managed Service Providers (MSPs). But beware! Few companies offer services that play well with formal security roles. There are advantages to combining the services. For example, a CISO often needs reports and information out of IT for compliance reasons. When both departments are in-house, the delay in getting information is lowered and this is the case when both services are outsourced from the same provider. Often an IT MSP can be slow to respond to security reports which will impact security and compliance. In the worst case, they are slow because they lack the ability to track the information requested.