Secure369 Solutions · Practitioner-Led

Virtual CISO (vCISO) for Startups & Growing Enterprises

Senior security leadership on demand — without the full-time CISO headcount.

Your first enterprise customer wants a security questionnaire filled. Your Series A due diligence included a security red flag. Your team does not know what to do next. A vCISO from Secure369 owns the security programme, manages your compliance journey, and gives you a credible CISO for every board meeting, investor call, and customer security review — at a fraction of the cost of a full-time hire.

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No account managers Practitioners lead every engagement India & United States Visakhapatnam · Hyderabad

The Problem

Why this matters now

Most startups and mid-market companies reach a point where security matters but a full-time CISO is not yet justified. The gap — between "we need someone to own security" and "we can afford a CISO" — is exactly where organisations get breached, fail audits, or lose enterprise deals. A vCISO fills that gap with real experience, not theoretical advisory.

Who this is for

Built for teams at this stage

Series A–C startups with their first enterprise customers asking security questions
Mid-market companies preparing for ISO 27001, SOC 2, or PCI-DSS certification
Organisations that just experienced a security incident and need leadership
Companies where the CTO is currently "also doing security"
Businesses facing investor or M&A security due diligence for the first time
Teams that failed an audit and need a programme rebuild

What Secure369 examines

Every area we cover

✓Current security posture — policies, controls, and evidence gaps

✓Regulatory obligations — DPDP Act, IT Act, RBI, SEBI, sector-specific requirements

✓Vendor and third-party risk programme maturity

✓Incident response capability and coverage

✓Board and executive security reporting needs

✓Compliance programme status and certification readiness

✓Security team structure, capability gaps, and hiring needs

✓Customer-facing security posture and questionnaire readiness

Deliverables

What you receive

🗺️

12–24 Month Security Roadmap

Prioritised by risk, budget, and compliance obligation — with quarterly board reporting built in from day one.

📋

Policy & Standards Library

All policies written, maintained, and kept current. Not templates — policies that reflect how your organisation actually operates.

✅

Compliance Programme Ownership

ISO 27001, SOC 2, PCI-DSS, DPDP Act — we own the journey from gap assessment through certification, including auditor management.

🤝

Customer Security Reviews

We answer enterprise security questionnaires on your behalf, attend customer security calls, and represent your security posture credibly.

📊

Board & Investor Reporting

Security posture translated into terms boards and investors act on — not technical reports that get ignored.

🚨

Incident Response Leadership

If something goes wrong, we take command — IR plan, communications, forensics coordination, regulator notification.

Indicative timeline

How the engagement runs

Kick-off & Posture Assessment

Week 1–2

Security landscape review, regulatory obligations mapping, top-10 risk identification, stakeholder interviews.

Programme Design

Week 3–4

Security roadmap, policy framework, compliance programme structure, reporting cadence established.

Active Programme Ownership

Month 2 onwards

Ongoing vCISO retainer — board reporting, vendor reviews, customer questionnaires, compliance management, incident response.

Quarterly Review

Every 90 days

Programme health check, roadmap progress, risk posture update, board presentation.

Practitioner credentials

Who delivers this work

Every Secure369 engagement is led by a practitioner who has held the role, passed the audit, and operated the control — not a consultant reading from a framework document. Our team carries credentials built in the field, not only in a classroom.

ISO 27001 Lead Implementers & Auditors

SOC 2 Programme Leads — multiple certifications delivered

CISO experience across financial services, healthtech, and SaaS

DPDP Act & IT Act compliance practitioners

PCI-DSS QSA-supported delivery

ISACA community contributors — CISM, CRISC holders

Anonymised results

What clients have achieved

All examples are anonymised and presented with client permission. Specific figures are withheld where requested.

SaaS company cleared enterprise security review in 6 weeks

Series B company facing stalled deal due to customer security questionnaire. vCISO engagement delivered completed questionnaire, policy evidence pack, and a security one-pager in 42 days.

ISO 27001 certification achieved in 7 months from zero

Fintech startup with no existing security documentation. Full programme built, internal audit completed, certification body audit passed first time.

M&A due diligence passed — security not flagged as a risk

Mid-market SaaS preparing for acquisition. Security posture strengthened, all investor questionnaires answered, security clean bill of health contributed to deal completion.

Frequently asked questions

Common questions

A consultant delivers a report and leaves. A vCISO owns the programme — attends your board meetings, manages your auditors, makes vendor decisions, answers your customer security calls, and is accountable for the programme every quarter. The relationship is ongoing, not project-based.

It depends on the programme stage and your needs. Typical retainers range from 8 to 20 hours per month. During certification preparation or incident response, we scale up. We price by programme value, not by the hour.

Yes. ISO 27001, SOC 2 Type I and II, PCI-DSS, DPDP Act compliance — we have delivered each of these. We own the process end-to-end: gap assessment, control implementation, evidence collection, auditor coordination, and remediation.

We invoke the IR plan we have built with you, take command of the response, coordinate forensics, draft regulatory notifications, and manage communications. Incident response leadership is included in every retainer.

Yes. We assess what you have, identify gaps, and work with your existing tooling and internal team. We are not here to replace your team — we are here to lead it and fill the strategic gap.

Start the conversation

Ready to stop being one breach away from a crisis?

Book a 30-minute call with a Secure369 vCISO practitioner. No sales pitch — a genuine conversation about your security programme.

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