About External CISO

Security expectations often grow faster than internal teams. Enterprise customers ask for evidence. Investors expect risk to be managed. Regulators introduce new obligations. Employees, suppliers, systems, and data all create dependencies that need clear ownership.

An External CISO -also called a virtual CISO or vCISO -gives your organisation access to experienced, executive-level cybersecurity leadership on a part-time basis. Instead of hiring a full-time Chief Information Security Officer before the role is justified, you gain ongoing support that helps you build, run, and improve a security programme aligned with your business goals.

Boxfish Labs works with growing companies that need practical direction rather than theoretical security theatre. We help turn security into a manageable leadership function: risks are visible, priorities are clear, responsibilities are assigned, and progress can be explained confidently to customers, investors, boards, and auditors.

Ideal for

• Startups and scaleups that need security leadership before a full-time CISO hire makes sense
• SMEs without an internal security leader or mature information-security function
• Teams preparing for enterprise procurement, security questionnaires, investor due diligence, audits, or ISO 27001
• Founders and executives who need clearer visibility of cyber risk, priorities, ownership, and progress
• Organisations operating in regulated, data-sensitive, or customer-trust-dependent environments
• Companies that need security capability to grow with the business, rather than a one-off compliance project

What an External CISO does

Continuous risk assessment

Maintain a clear and current view of the risks that matter to your company: technology, data, people, suppliers, operations, legal obligations, and changing customer expectations.

Security strategy and roadmap

Create a proportionate security strategy and prioritised roadmap that connects security investment to business objectives, growth plans, customer needs, and available capacity.

Security programme oversight

Provide accountable oversight for policies, controls, responsibilities, security operations, documentation, evidence, and the routines needed to keep the programme working.

Compliance coordination

Align work across relevant frameworks and expectations, including ISO 27001, GDPR, DORA, TISAX, the EU AI Act, the Cyber Resilience Act, and customer security requirements.

Incident readiness and coordination

Prepare your organisation to respond effectively when an incident occurs. This includes incident-response planning, role clarity, escalation paths, decision support, and lessons learned.

Executive and board reporting

Translate cyber risk and programme progress into concise, meaningful reporting. Leadership receives a clear view of decisions, priorities, residual risk, investment needs, and measurable progress.

How it works

01 - Establish the baseline

We begin by understanding your business, technology, information assets, people, suppliers, existing controls, customer commitments, and immediate risks. This creates a practical security baseline rather than a generic assessment.

02 - Set the direction

Together, we define the security strategy, risk appetite, priorities, responsibilities, and roadmap. The plan is designed to fit your stage of growth, commercial context, and internal capacity.

03 - Build the programme

We support the implementation of the governance, policies, controls, documentation, and decision-making routines your company needs. Work may include risk management, supplier assurance, privacy coordination, audit preparation, and security-awareness activities.

04 - Operate and report

Through recurring working sessions, reviews, and leadership reporting, we keep security visible and actionable. Risks, incidents, supplier issues, customer requirements, and programme progress are addressed in a consistent cadence.

05 - Evolve with the business

As you enter new markets, adopt new technology, sign larger customers, add AI capabilities, or prepare for certification, the security programme evolves with you. Support can scale up or down as your requirements change.

Relevant frameworks and expectations

ISO 27001

Build or improve an information security management system (ISMS) that connects risk management, policies, technical and organisational controls, evidence, and continuous improvement.

GDPR

Ensure security leadership works alongside data-protection governance, personal-data risk management, processor oversight, incident response, and privacy-by-design practices.

DORA

Support regulated financial entities and their ICT providers with operational resilience, incident management, supplier oversight, governance, and risk-management expectations.

TISAX

Help automotive and mobility-sector suppliers strengthen the documentation, governance, and security practices needed to prepare for TISAX assessments.

EU AI Act

Create governance around AI-enabled products and services, including risk classification, documentation, oversight, transparency, and accountable decision-making.

Cyber Resilience Act (CRA)

Embed security leadership into secure-by-design development, vulnerability handling, product security governance, and lifecycle resilience for software and connected products.

Outcomes

• Senior cybersecurity leadership without the cost, delay, or long-term commitment of an early full-time executive hire
• A business-aligned security strategy and roadmap your team can realistically deliver
• Clearer ownership of security, risk, supplier assurance, incident readiness, and compliance responsibilities
• More consistent policies, controls, documentation, governance, and evidence
• Stronger responses to customer due diligence, procurement, investor questions, and audit requirements
• Clear executive-level visibility of cyber risk, progress, decisions, and remaining exposure
• A security programme that matures with your company rather than being rebuilt at every growth stage

Engagement model

Subscription-based cybersecurity leadership, with the flexibility to grow.

An External CISO engagement is delivered through an ongoing retainer. It gives your organisation recurring access to a senior cybersecurity leader while keeping the time commitment proportionate to your current needs.

Every engagement begins with a free 15-minute screening call to understand your immediate concern and match you with the right expert. This is followed by a paid 60-minute assessment call with a senior security and compliance expert. We use that session to understand your current situation, urgent issues, customer or regulatory pressure, and what success should look like. You receive an action plan afterwards. If we move forward, the assessment-call fee is credited to your first invoice.

We then recommend an engagement plan, starting hour allocation, and a six-month minimum term under a written retainer agreement. Retainers commonly include recurring working sessions, monthly risk and progress reporting, and quarterly executive updates. Hours can scale as your business, customer base, and compliance needs grow.

Why External CISO support

Access experienced leadership earlier

Get senior support before a permanent executive role is necessary. Boxfish Labs brings international experience across information security, privacy, audits, governance, risk, compliance, and human-centred security.

Make security proportionate

Build the level of security your business needs now, while creating a clear path to greater maturity later. Avoid both underinvestment and enterprise-style overengineering.

Save compared with a full-time hire

A external model can reduce the cost of senior security leadership significantly compared with a full-time hire, while giving you reliable access to expertise when it matters.

Work internationally

Boxfish Labs supports international teams in English, German, Hungarian, Romanian, Ukrainian, and other languages where possible, helping distributed businesses work across customers, teams, and markets.