Contain the threat (isolate affected systems), preserve evidence (don't wipe or rebuild before forensic review), activate your incident response plan, notify your leadership team and legal counsel, and engage your pre-established incident response partners. If you don't have a response plan or pre-established relationships with responders, that's exactly what our incident response preparedness service addresses — we help you build all of this before an incident occurs so you're not making critical decisions under pressure for the first time.

Yes. As organizations adopt generative AI tools like ChatGPT, Copilot, and industry-specific AI products, new risks emerge around data leakage, intellectual property exposure, regulatory compliance, and responsible use. We help organizations develop practical AI governance frameworks, acceptable use policies, and security controls based on established standards including NIST AI RMF, OWASP Top 10 for LLMs, and ISO/IEC 42001.

A tabletop exercise is a facilitated, scenario-based discussion where your team walks through a simulated cyber incident — typically a ransomware attack, data breach, or business email compromise. There's no live technical testing; it's about exercising your decision-making, communication, and coordination under pressure. We design custom scenarios relevant to your industry, facilitate the session with real-time injects and adjustments, and deliver an after-action report identifying specific gaps and recommendations.

Pricing depends on the scope of engagement — the complexity of your environment and whether you need compliance-specific work like SOC 2 or HIPAA readiness. Most fractional CISO engagements cost significantly less than a full-time hire while delivering the same level of strategic guidance. We price based on the outcome you need and the value you expect from the engagement.

We work across healthcare, financial services and banking, technology and SaaS, manufacturing, and professional services. Our founder has direct experience in financial services and healthcare at the enterprise level, and we've advised startups and growth-stage companies across multiple sectors. We're based in Birmingham, AL and serve clients across the United States.

Often, yes. MSPs handle day-to-day IT operations — keeping systems running, managing endpoints, handling helpdesk tickets. But most MSPs aren't equipped to provide strategic security leadership: defining your security program, preparing for regulatory exams, running incident response exercises, or advising your board on cyber risk. We frequently work alongside existing MSPs and internal IT teams in a co-managed model, providing the security strategy and oversight layer that complements their operational capabilities.

A vulnerability assessment scans your environment and produces a list of known vulnerabilities ranked by severity. A penetration test goes further — a skilled tester actively attempts to exploit vulnerabilities to determine what an attacker could actually achieve in your environment. Through our partnership with STACKTITAN, we provide expert-led penetration testing and red team engagements that simulate real-world attack scenarios, not automated scan-and-report exercises.

If you're handling customer data, processing payments, operating under regulatory requirements, or trying to close deals with enterprise customers who are asking about your security posture — you're ready. The question isn't whether you need a security program; it's how to right-size one for where you are today. We help organizations at every stage, from startups building their first set of security policies to established companies maturing their programs.

A fractional CISO is a part-time, ongoing member of your leadership team — not a one-time engagement. A consultant typically delivers a report or assessment and moves on. A fractional CISO attends your board meetings, handles security questionnaires from your customers, makes vendor decisions alongside you, and provides continuous security leadership over months or years. You get the experience and judgment of a senior CISO without the $250K+ salary and benefits of a full-time executive hire.