Virtual CISO services, delivered by a full team
A virtual CISO (vCISO) gives you executive security leadership on a fractional basis. Agency’s version isn’t a lone consultant — it’s U.S.-based forward-deployed engineers, supercharged by proprietary AI, who set the strategy and then actually execute it: policies, evidence, audits, questionnaires, and vendor reviews.
A virtual CISO (vCISO) gives you executive security leadership on a fractional basis.
Virtual CISO · Virtual CISO
What a vCISO actually does
A chief information security officer answers three questions continuously: what are our real risks, what are we doing about them, and can we prove it to the people who ask — customers, auditors, insurers, regulators, and the board. Most companies under a thousand employees need those questions answered well before they can justify the cost of answering them with a full-time executive.
A virtual CISO covers that gap: a named security leader who owns your risk register, your compliance roadmap, your policies, your incident readiness, and the security story you tell buyers. The difference between vCISO offerings is what happens after the strategy deck. A solo consultant hands you recommendations; your team inherits the work.
Agency built its vCISO service the other way around. The leadership comes with an operating team — forward-deployed compliance engineers and AI agents who implement the controls, collect the evidence, run the audits, and answer the questionnaires. Strategy and execution, one accountable provider.
What Agency’s vCISO coverage includes
The standing responsibilities of a security executive, owned end to end.
vCISO vs a full-time CISO
A full-time CISO is a senior-executive hire — six-figure compensation before you add the security engineers who do the implementing. That’s the right call when security is your product or your regulator demands it. For most B2B companies between seed and mid-market, it’s premature: the actual workload is a fraction of an executive’s calendar, but it’s a fraction of everything — strategy on Monday, an auditor call on Tuesday, a questionnaire Wednesday.
Fractional coverage fits that shape. You get the judgment and the accountability when you need them, an operating team doing the recurring work every week, and you defer the executive hire until scale demands it. When you do make that hire, an Agency-run program hands them a clean, documented, audit-proven foundation instead of a rebuild.
Your first 90 days
The fractional model, in numbers
Who hires a vCISO
The trigger is almost always external: an enterprise buyer sends a 300-question security review, a regulator or insurer asks who owns security, or an investor’s diligence list includes “security leadership.” It lands hardest on startups closing their first enterprise deals, financial services companies facing counterparty scrutiny, and health and life-sciences teams handling regulated data.
If that’s where you are, the fastest orientation is one conversation about your deals, your data, and your deadlines — from there, the roadmap usually writes itself.
Frequently asked questions
Five questions
Virtual CISO
Security leadership without the headcount
One conversation about your deals, data, and deadlines — and you’ll know exactly what a fractional security program should look like. Top-ranked Vanta & Drata partner · 1,000+ companies served since 2021 · 4.9/5 on G2.
Talk to an ExpertTop-ranked Vanta & Drata partner · 1,000+ companies served since 2021 · 4.9/5 on G2
Platform Products
Agency AIEnd-to-end cybersecurity and compliance, across the stack you already use.
Agency MDRManaged detection and response
CustodyIDIdentity verification for trust and compliance
Find your auditor
Auditnex makes buying audits simpler and more transparent.
Agency implements the controls, collects the evidence, and manages your auditor relationship on top of the GRC tools you already use.
Common GRC Questions
GRC Platform & Virtual CISO FAQ
Answers to common vCISO questions — cost, scope, when to hire full-time, and what a virtual CISO actually does for your program.
More from Agency
Build a Security & Compliance Team Led by Your Own Virtual CISO
Forward-Deployed Engineers + AI that lower costs, increase velocity, and raise the bar — from policy to audit to remediation. U.S.-based forward-deployed engineers, supercharged by proprietary AI, operate your program end-to-end — on top of the tools you already trust.
Talk to an ExpertAutomation ends where judgment begins.