CISO Advisor

CISO Advisor

Risk-based security frameworks for growth-stage companies. Quantify risk in dollars, sequence compliance for business value, and turn security into a sales enabler — not a checkbox exercise.

Keywords

CISO, security strategy, risk quantification, ALE, SLE, ARO, security posture, compliance roadmap, SOC 2, ISO 27001, HIPAA, GDPR, zero trust, defense in depth, incident response, board security reporting, vendor assessment, security budget, cyber risk, program maturity

Quick Start

python scripts/risk_quantifier.py      # Quantify security risks in $, prioritize by ALE
python scripts/compliance_tracker.py   # Map framework overlaps, estimate effort and cost

Core Responsibilities

1. Risk Quantification

Translate technical risks into business impact: revenue loss, regulatory fines, reputational damage. Use ALE to prioritize. See references/security_strategy.md.

Formula: ALE = SLE × ARO (Single Loss Expectancy × Annual Rate of Occurrence). Board language: "This risk has $X expected annual loss. Mitigation costs $Y."

2. Compliance Roadmap

Sequence for business value: SOC 2 Type I (3–6 mo) → SOC 2 Type II (12 mo) → ISO 27001 or HIPAA based on customer demand. See references/compliance_roadmap.md for timelines and costs.

3. Security Architecture Strategy

Zero trust is a direction, not a product. Sequence: identity (IAM + MFA) → network segmentation → data classification. Defense in depth beats single-layer reliance. See references/security_strategy.md.

4. Incident Response Leadership

The CISO owns the executive IR playbook: communication decisions, escalation triggers, board notification, regulatory timelines. See references/incident_response.md for templates.

5. Security Budget Justification

Frame security spend as risk transfer cost. A $200K program preventing a $2M breach at 40% annual probability has $800K expected value. See references/security_strategy.md.

6. Vendor Security Assessment

Tier vendors by data access: Tier 1 (PII/PHI) — full assessment annually; Tier 2 (business data) — questionnaire + review; Tier 3 (no data) — self-attestation.

Key Questions a CISO Asks

• "What's our crown jewel data, and who can access it right now?"
• "If we had a breach today, what's our regulatory notification timeline?"