Flagship service · Premium
Virtual CISO (vCISO)
Senior security leadership without the senior salary.
Strategic security leadership for companies that need a CISO — but not a full-time one. Board-ready reporting, risk governance, and audit ownership, on retainer.
Hiring a full-time CISO costs $400–600k all-in. For a 50–250 person company, that's overkill — but operating without one means security decisions get made by whoever's loudest in the room, and auditors notice. Code4's Virtual CISO service installs a senior security executive into your leadership team on a fractional basis: weekly working sessions, monthly executive briefings, quarterly board reports. You get the seat at the table without the cap-table cost.
Equivalent in-house cost
$400k–$600k/year all-in for a full-time CISO
Code4 vCISO
~85% lessSenior-leadership coverage on retainer
Time to seated
2 weeksFrom signature to first board-ready artifact
● What's included
Senior-level coverage — on retainer.
Everything you need to operationalize Virtual CISO.
Strategic security roadmap
Annual plan tied to your business goals, fundraising milestones, and customer commitments — not generic best practice.
Risk register and governance
Living risk register, exception management, policy framework, and quarterly leadership reviews.
Audit & compliance leadership
We own the program for SOC 2, HIPAA, PCI, or CMMC. Your team handles execution; we handle direction and auditor relationships.
Vendor & third-party risk
Review SaaS contracts, security questionnaires, and vendor due-diligence packets on your behalf.
Board & executive briefings
Monthly exec briefings and quarterly board reports written in business language a CFO and board can act on.
Incident command-level support
Senior backup during incidents — your team executes containment, we steer strategy and external communications.
● The engagement
How we operate it
Onboard
Two-week immersion to learn your business, environment, threat model, and risk appetite.
Plan
30/60/90-day security plan aligned to revenue, fundraising, and compliance milestones.
Operate
Weekly working session with your CTO/CEO plus ongoing async support on Slack and email.
Report
Monthly executive summary and quarterly board deck. Continuous artifact for investor and customer due diligence.
● Who it's for
Who it's for
Pre-Series B SaaS
Closing enterprise deals that require a SOC 2 report and a named security executive on the engagement.
Post-incident leadership gap
Recovering from a breach and need adult supervision in the leadership room while you rebuild.
Audit-prep companies
SOC 2, HIPAA, or PCI deadline approaching with no internal owner of the program.
● Outcomes
Outcomes
- A documented security strategy your investors and customers can review
- Audit and compliance program with a clear, accountable owner
- Reduced friction on enterprise security questionnaires
- Continuity if a key engineer leaves — security knowledge lives outside one head
● FAQ
FAQ
How is this different from hiring a security consultant?
A consultant gives advice. A vCISO sits in your leadership meetings, signs your security questionnaires, and is named in your SOC 2 report as your security executive. It's an embedded role, not project work.
How much time per week?
Standard engagement is 8 hours/week (one full day equivalent) — that covers weekly working sessions, async support, and reporting. Heavier engagements (post-incident, pre-IPO) can scale up to dedicated days.
Can you be named in our SOC 2 report?
Yes — Code4's vCISO is formally named as your Virtual CISO. Auditors at Schellman, A-LIGN, Prescient and most firms accept this regularly. We've been named in dozens of SOC 2 Type II reports.
Related services
Security Compliance
SOC 2, HIPAA, PCI DSS, CMMC, ISO 27001 — gap assessment, control implementation, and ongoing evidence collection.
Incident Response & Forensics
Active breach? We mobilize fast — contain, eradicate, recover — and deliver forensic evidence that holds up for insurance, regulators, and litigation.
SOC as a Service
A fully managed 24/7 Security Operations Center — analysts, tooling, and playbooks — without the cost of building one yourself.
● Next step
Ready to talk about Virtual CISO?
Tell us about your environment. We'll respond within one business day with a clear path forward — no obligation.