Service · CISO

Executive Security Leadership, Without the Full-Time Cost

Most organizations need CISO-level judgment long before they can justify a CISO-level salary. A virtual CISO (vCISO) — also called a fractional CISO — delivers the same strategic leadership as a full-time Chief Information Security Officer: setting security strategy, owning risk and compliance, leading incident response, and briefing the board, delivered on a part-time, retained basis that scales with your business.

At SNM Consulting Inc., Aruneesh Salhotra serves as a fractional CISO for organizations that need executive security leadership now, not in a six-month hiring cycle.

Why You Need a vCISO

Growing organizations face the same security expectations as the enterprise, without the enterprise budget:

  • The Talent Gap Is Real — Experienced CISOs are expensive and hard to hire, and a full-time executive is often more capacity than an early- or mid-stage company needs.
  • Customers and Investors Ask "Who Owns Security?" — Enterprise deals, cyber insurance renewals, and due diligence increasingly require a named security leader, not just a policy binder.
  • Compliance Deadlines Don't Wait — SOC 2, ISO 27001, HIPAA, PCI DSS, and NIST CSF 2.0 all expect a defined owner for risk decisions, exceptions, and audit evidence.
  • Security Needs Change Faster Than Headcount — A certification push, an incident, or a board audit committee can spike demand for security leadership well beyond steady-state.

A vCISO gives you that ownership immediately, at a cost and time commitment that matches where your business actually is.

Our vCISO Services

Strategic Security Leadership & Roadmapping

We build and own a multi-year security strategy that ties directly to business risk and objectives, not a generic checklist.

Security Strategy & Roadmap

  • Develop a prioritized 6–12 month security roadmap with sequencing, dependencies, and rough cost ranges.
  • Align investment decisions with actual risk exposure and regulatory requirements, not vendor sales cycles.

Risk Assessment & Risk Register

  • Identify, assess, and prioritize risk across people, process, and technology.
  • Maintain a plain-language risk register that leadership can actually use to make decisions.

Security Budget Planning

  • Build and defend the security budget in terms the CFO and board understand.
  • Scale spend up during audits or certification pushes and back down during steady-state operations.

Governance, Risk & Compliance

We stand up practical governance and carry the named-owner responsibility for the frameworks your customers and regulators expect.

Policy & Governance Program

  • Create and maintain security policies and standards that reflect how your organization actually works.
  • Establish approval workflows, exception handling, and policy review cadence.

Compliance Readiness & Audit Ownership

  • Own compliance posture for frameworks including SOC 2, ISO 27001, NIST CSF 2.0, HIPAA, PCI DSS, and GDPR/CCPA.
  • Run gap assessments, coordinate evidence collection, and represent the organization through third-party audits.

Third-Party & Vendor Risk Management

  • Assess vendor security posture before onboarding and monitor it on an ongoing basis.
  • Fold vendor risk into the organization-wide risk profile rather than tracking it separately.

Incident Response Leadership

We make sure the organization is ready before an incident happens, and lead the response when one does.

Incident Response Planning

  • Build and maintain an incident response plan with clear roles, escalation paths, and communication templates.
  • Define detection requirements and escalation criteria with your SOC, MSSP, or internal team.

Tabletop Exercises

  • Run regular tabletop exercises so executives and technical teams both know their role before a real event.
  • Identify and close gaps in the response plan based on exercise findings.

Active Incident Leadership

  • Lead the response when an incident occurs — coordinating internal teams, outside counsel, and forensics firms.
  • Own regulator and customer notification obligations and post-incident reporting.

Security Awareness & Culture

We help build a security-conscious culture instead of relying on policy alone.

Security Awareness Training

  • Design and coordinate ongoing training programs tailored to real threats your employees face.
  • Track engagement and measure risk reduction over time, not just completion rates.

Security Champions & Enablement

  • Identify and support security champions across engineering and business teams.
  • Provide leadership with plain-language updates they can act on, not just technical reports.

Board & Executive Reporting

We translate security posture into language the board and executive team can use to make decisions.

Board-Ready Reporting

  • Deliver quarterly board and executive readouts on risk posture, roadmap progress, and open decisions.
  • Sit on the audit committee where one exists and represent security in M&A, insurance, and customer due diligence.

Executive Advisory

  • Act as the named point of contact for cybersecurity matters with regulators, customers, and partners.
  • Advise leadership on security implications of new products, markets, and vendor relationships.

How SNM Consulting Inc. Helps You Stay Secure

Partnering with SNM Consulting Inc. for vCISO services gives you:

  • Executive-Level Leadership, Fractional Cost — CISO-grade strategy and decision-making without a full-time executive salary.
  • A Named Owner — One accountable leader for risk, compliance, and incident response that customers, auditors, and insurers can point to.
  • A Roadmap, Not Just a Report — A prioritized, business-aligned plan your team can actually execute against.
  • Flexibility That Matches Your Stage — Engagement scope and hours that scale up for audits and incidents, and back down for steady-state operations.

By partnering with SNM Consulting Inc., you get the security leadership of a seasoned CISO exactly when and how much your organization needs it.