Virtual CISO
A vCISO that comes with a team, not just a calendar.
Atoro gives software companies senior security leadership, the strategy, oversight and authority a customer, board or investor expects, delivered as a managed service rather than a single fractional hire stretched across your week.
Your vCISO is the front of TrustOps, Atoro’s managed compliance service, so the leadership comes with the team that does the work behind it.
Built for modern software companies
Virtual CISO
Security strategy and oversight
Backed by a full compliance team
ISO 27001 · SOC 2 · GDPR · ISO 42001
Security leadership, delivered
vCISO
Security strategyA roadmap tied to your risks, your customers and your growth.
Board and customer authorityThe named security leader your stakeholders expect.
Audit and framework oversightISO 27001, SOC 2 and more, owned at the top.
Incident and risk governanceThe judgement calls made by someone accountable.
A team behind the titleNot one person’s spare hours, a function.
What usually triggers the call
- An enterprise customer wants to see a named security leader.
- The board or an investor is asking who owns security.
- You need security strategy, not just someone to run the tooling.
- A fractional CISO you tried was one person, stretched thin.
- You’re carrying ISO 27001 or SOC 2 and nobody senior owns it.
02 Recognition
You need a CISO’s authority. You don’t need a CISO’s salary, or their spare time.
Most software companies come to us when they need security leadership but a full-time CISO doesn’t fit, in cost or in workload.
A virtual CISO who is just one person’s spare hours hits a ceiling fast: they can advise, but they can’t also run the audits, answer the questionnaires, and keep the evidence current. Leadership without delivery is a bottleneck.
Atoro gives you the leadership and the team behind it, backed by more than 200 compliance and security projects.
03 Proof
Engineering-led security leadership
Atoro combines security engineers, compliance consultants, and auditors with computer science backgrounds, so your vCISO understands how your product is actually built, not just how to write a policy.
We provide the security leadership and the function beneath it: strategy and oversight at the top, audits, evidence and questionnaires handled by the team, across ISO 27001, SOC 2, GDPR and ISO 42001.
Senior. Technical. Backed.
ISO 27001 and ISO 42001 certifiedFirst in Europe for the latter.
200+ projects deliveredAcross compliance, security, audit, and testing.
Leadership plus deliveryStrategy at the top, a full team underneath.
Every major frameworkOwned by one accountable security function.
04 System
What your vCISO actually does
A vCISO is only useful if the authority comes with action. Atoro’s vCISO is the leadership layer of TrustOps, so both arrive together.
Security strategy and roadmap
Priorities tied to your real risks and your growth plans.
Framework ownership
ISO 27001, SOC 2 and others, owned at leadership level, run by the team.
Board and customer representation
The named security leader your stakeholders and enterprise buyers expect to meet.
Risk and incident governance
The accountable judgement on what matters and what to do.
Security questionnaires and reviews
Overseen by leadership, turned around by the team.
The function beneath the title
Evidence, audits and operations handled, not delegated back to you.
You get a security leader with a team, delivered as TrustOps.
05 Plan
How the vCISO engagement runs
Your vCISO engagement runs as part of TrustOps: senior leadership on a regular cadence, with the compliance function operating underneath.
1
Assess
Your vCISO reviews your security posture, risks, frameworks and obligations.
2
Strategise
A security roadmap and priorities, sized to your stage and your customers.
3
Represent
Your named security leader for board meetings, investor diligence and customer security reviews.
4
Govern
Ongoing oversight of risk, incidents, audits and frameworks.
5
Deliver
The TrustOps team runs the audits, evidence and questionnaires the strategy requires.
What we need from your team
- A leadership point of contact.
- Visibility into your product, infrastructure and roadmap.
- Decisions where only an owner can make them.
- Notice of new customers, markets or obligations.
You get the leadership. Atoro brings the team.
06 Price
A monthly subscription, not a six-figure hire
A full-time CISO is a six-figure salary plus equity. The vCISO function, delivered through TrustOps, is a monthly subscription scaled to your company size and what you need owned, leadership and the team beneath it included.
Before we quote, we scope it: your frameworks, your audit calendar, your stakeholder demands, and the depth of leadership you need.
Included
Named security leader
For your board, customers and team.
Included
Security strategy and roadmap
Maintained as you grow.
Included
Framework ownership
Across ISO 27001, SOC 2 and beyond.
Included
The TrustOps function
Running audits, evidence and questionnaires.
Included
Risk and incident governance
By someone accountable.
No six-figure hire. No one person stretched thin. No leadership without delivery.
07 People
The leadership behind your vCISO
A vCISO worth the title needs seniority, technical judgement, and a team that turns strategy into delivered work.
AB
Ayna Boada McNamara
Head of Service Delivery
Ayna ensures the leadership translates into delivery: the strategy your vCISO sets is run by a team on a cadence, not left as advice.
Role in your account: making sure security leadership is always backed by action.
AT
The Atoro bench
Security & compliance specialists
Senior security and compliance leadership, with engineers, auditors and specialists delivering underneath, across every major framework.
Role in your account: the function that turns strategy into delivered work.
08 FAQ
vCISO FAQs
What is a vCISO?
A virtual CISO: senior security leadership provided as a service rather than a full-time hire. They set security strategy, own your frameworks, and represent security to your board and customers. With Atoro, the vCISO comes with the team that does the delivery work.
What’s the difference between a vCISO and a fractional CISO?
Both provide part-time senior leadership. The difference with Atoro is what sits behind the title: a fractional CISO is usually one person’s time, whereas our vCISO is the leadership layer of TrustOps, so the strategy is delivered by a full compliance team, not just advised on.
How much does a vCISO cost?
A monthly subscription scaled to your company size and scope, far below a full-time CISO’s six-figure salary and equity, and unlike a lone fractional hire it includes the team that does the work. We give you the number on the first call.
Do we need a vCISO if we already have a compliance platform?
A platform shows status; it makes no decisions and holds no authority. A vCISO provides the leadership and accountability a platform can’t, and through TrustOps, the function to act on it.
Can a vCISO represent us to customers and auditors?
Yes. Your vCISO is the named security leader for enterprise customer security reviews, board meetings and investor diligence, and oversees the audits directly.
Does the vCISO actually do the work, or just advise?
Both. Leadership at the top, and the TrustOps team running audits, evidence and questionnaires underneath, so you don’t get strategy you then have to resource yourself.
Which frameworks can a vCISO own?
ISO 27001, SOC 2, GDPR and ISO 42001, individually or together, owned at leadership level and run by the team.
Can we start with a vCISO and add more later?
Yes. The vCISO is one line of TrustOps; you can scope up to full managed compliance, or add privacy leadership (vDPO), as you grow.
What happens if we hire a full-time CISO later?
Then your vCISO hands over to them cleanly, with the strategy, evidence and frameworks in order. TrustOps can continue underneath a full-time CISO as their delivery team, or step back.
09 Push
Request vCISO pricing
Get a scoped view of what a vCISO would cost for your company. Complete a short scope questionnaire, book a call, or both.
No six-figure hire. No vague “starting from” proposal. No leadership without delivery.
We’ll review
The security leadership and authority you need
The frameworks you hold or are targeting
Your board, investor and customer demands
Your current security posture and team
Whether you need privacy leadership (vDPO) too