Hiring a vCISO? Make Sure They Know Your Industry

Many virtual chief information security officers (vCISOs, also called fractional CISOs) have gained broad industry knowledge and an expansive strategic focus from working with diverse organizations. But do they have the depth of industry knowledge your organization needs to tune your cybersecurity program to the unique risks, threats, and compliance demands you face?
To support your due diligence in finding the ideal vCISO for your short- and longer-term needs, this short article spells out why industry-specific experience is important for a vCISO in many verticals.

Which verticals demand deep vCISO expertise?

Every vertical is different and has unique cybersecurity considerations. This is not to say that cybersecurity expertise won’t transfer across industries—it does. But industry exposure can be a big benefit for the high-pressure vCISO role. 

If you hire a vCISO who hasn’t yet worked in your industry, you might not get the optimal or timely results you need and may face added cyber risk exposure.

Some of the verticals that benefit most from an industry-savvy vCISO include:

• Software as a Service (SaaS)—Charged with protecting client assets in the cloud, SaaS providers face a barrage of new and potent threats. Further, their reputation, investor evaluation, and competitive success may well depend on their ability to keep client data secure. If breached, they may not get a second chance.  
• Healthcare—Hackers target healthcare organizations relentlessly because of the valuable patient data they hold, while HIPAA and other regulations complicate healthcare’s cyber compliance picture.
• Financial services—Like healthcare, financial firms are highly regulated (e.g., PCI DSS, the Safeguards Rule) and subject to massive risks associated with online transactions and confidential client data. A data breach can bring devastating reputational damage and cost millions to remediate.
• Tech startups—Startups are notorious for innovating and selling far ahead of their lagging cybersecurity postures. Any vCISO at a startup may face an uphill fight to keep customer data and intellectual property safe, not to mention securing the software and the development environment.
• Manufacturing—A manufacturing shop floor includes not just typical IT systems but also operational technology (OT) like industrial control systems, programmable logic controllers (PLCs), and Internet of Things (IoT) devices like sensors. It takes experience to build familiarity with the many security challenges around these IP-connected devices, from authentication to updates to hardware hacking.
• Legal—From case management to client confidentiality to billing, law firm IT and business processes are unique in many ways. Law firms also face growing cybercrime pressure, including sophisticated social engineering and business email compromise attacks targeting law partners and senior staff. 
• Retail—Retailers have been the victims of some of the biggest data breaches ever, thanks to their massive repositories of customer personal and financial data. They also face major risks related to point-of-sale systems, online selling, and connectivity to thousands of suppliers.
• Government—Especially at the state and federal levels, government agencies must protect a huge range of citizens’ highly sensitive personal data, along with numerous financial systems—all on a typically tight budget. Government systems are also subject to strict cyber compliance standards, notably FedRAMP.
• Education—From public K-12 schools to universities, education institutions struggle to protect sensitive student data, financial records, and research repositories while maintaining more open network and application access than most businesses would ever consider.

How does industry know-how empower a vCISO?

A vCISO with deeper industry-specific knowledge is in a stronger position to effectively tailor an org’s cybersecurity strategy to the specific risks, threats, and compliance obligations it faces. This helps ensure that the strategic cybersecurity roadmap and associated tactical controls are highly effective and aligned with business needs.

Some of the areas where industry expertise can most aid a vCISO include:

• Leveraging industry best practices. Awareness of industry-specific attack trends, unique vulnerabilities, and peer proven defenses can help a vCISO align strategic recommendations with best practices.
• Enhanced rapport with management and other stakeholders. A vCISO who knows your vertical may be better able to communicate cybersecurity risks and mitigation strategies to senior leaders, customers, and other stakeholders.
• Improved compliance posture. A vCISO with in-depth knowledge of industry compliance demands and regulatory guidelines can better ensure a company fully covers its contractual and legal responsibilities to avoid scrutiny or sanctions.  
• More accurate risk assessment. Different verticals face differing and ever-changing cyber threats and attack vectors, which a vCISO with deep industry experience may be better able to assess, predict, and prioritize in line with risk treatment strategies. 
• Greater familiarity with relevant cyber frameworks. A vCISO with industry experience is more likely to be familiar with specific cybersecurity guidance or frameworks that apply to your business. For example, if you’re a supplier in Aerospace & Defense, is your vCISO already familiar with NIST 800-171/CMMC compliance requirements? If you’re in healthcare, are they familiar with HITRUST? Or is your legal vCISO already experienced with pursuing ISO 27001 certification? 

Can your vCISO quickly handle a pressing industry issue?

No vCISO can be equally well versed in all the many cybersecurity domains and specialty areas. But are they experienced in the areas most important to your industry? Like data privacy in retail, healthcare, or financial services? Application security in SaaS? Cloud security in government? IoT security in manufacturing or facilities management?

In any company, a pressing issue that requires immediate resolution may have critical, industry-specific aspects. If your vCISO is already familiar with your industry, they may be more decisive and responsive in addressing these concerns. 

If not, can they ramp up fast enough to prevent an issue or incident? Or can you augment their guidance or replace them quickly—often a challenge with such a key position? Finding a vCISO who already knows your vertical can lessen these risks. 

What’s next?

For more guidance on this topic, listen to Episode 147 of The Virtual CISO Podcast with guest Matt Webster, Partner at Harbor Technology Group.