Security leadership, delivered.
Zentara vCISO — a named security executive, as a service.
An executive who sets your strategy, runs your governance, and answers for measurable progress — without the cost, scarcity, and 18-month wait of the executive hire.
18 mo
Typical in-house program buildout
5
Frameworks in play across ID & SG
1
Named executive who answers for it all
The leadership gap
Every board now owns cyber risk. Few have an executive to run it.
Every board now owns cyber risk; few have an executive to run it. Certified security executives are scarce, expensive, and slow to hire — an in-house program takes ~18 months to build. Strategy waits, threats don't. The gap isn't tools. It's leadership.
Executive security leadership, as a service
Zentara vCISO places a named security executive inside your leadership team — not an auditor who visits, not a consultant who reports. An accountable executive who owns the security agenda end to end, running on live data from the Zentara stack.
What you get
Outcomes you can put in front of a board
A maturity score that rises
Scored on NIST CSF at day 60, re-scored every six months. Progress is a number, not a narrative.
A risk register that burns down
Live, owned, and reviewed at every steering meeting. High risks close or get formally accepted.
Audits that close clean
ISO 27001, SOC 2, and regulator inspections prepared, owned, and defended by your vCISO.
A roadmap that gets delivered
Every initiative sequenced and tracked. Milestones reported to the board each quarter.
How it starts
Sixty days to a scored baseline
Every tier opens with the same Baseline. You see artifacts in weeks — not quarters.
Context
Asset & system inventory, stakeholder interviews, regulatory applicability mapping.
Assessment
NIST CSF maturity scoring, AVAS technical baseline, control-gap analysis.
Direction
Risk workshop with management, quick wins, roadmap sequencing and sign-off.
The operating rhythm — a cadence that holds under pressure
Weekly
Presence & counsel
Standing advisory access. Decisions unblocked the same week they surface.
Monthly
Steering committee
Metrics, risk register, and roadmap progress, chaired by your vCISO.
Quarterly
Board reporting
A board pack your directors actually read: posture, delta, decisions needed.
Every 6 months
Maturity re-score
Re-measured against your baseline. The delta is reported without spin.
Engagement tiers
Three tiers. One methodology.
Advisory
4days / month
For scale-ups and firms building toward certification.
- Security roadmap ownership
- Risk register & policy review
- Quarterly executive briefing
Embedded
Most chosen8days / month
For regulated institutions under OJK, UU PDP or MAS.
- Everything in Advisory
- Audit & regulator correspondence ownership
- Monthly steering, chaired
- Quarterly board pack
Enterprise
10+days / month + bench
For banks, SOEs and government institutions.
- Everything in Embedded
- Named deputy & support bench
- Regulator liaison (OJK · BSSN · MAS)
- 24/7 incident direction with Managed SOC
Certification sprints (ISO 27001 · SOC 2) are scoped as fixed projects at every tier.
Add-on modules
Start anywhere. Extend anytime.
Fixed scope, fixed fee, separate statement of work. Entry modules stand alone — each ends with findings that need an owner. Already on a retainer? Extensions attach at preferred rates.
Start with the Baseline
Sixty days to a posture your board can hold you to
A scored maturity baseline, a live risk register, and a roadmap — the same opening move at every tier. See artifacts in weeks, not quarters.
The stack behind your vCISO
Advice from instruments, not templates
Your vCISO reads these instruments every month. Decisions trace to evidence, not opinion.
AVAS
Continuous vulnerability assessment with validated findings — the technical pulse behind every priority call.
ZX + Managed SOC
A live operational picture with 24/7 monitored response and a 15-minute critical SLA.
VAPT
Certified offensive testing (OSCP · GPEN) that proves the roadmap works, not assumes it.
Zentara Labs
Research and AI-governance depth behind the advisory, briefed at ministerial level.
Compliance mapped to outcomes
One governance program. Every mandate.
Each regulator asks a different question. Your vCISO answers all of them with one program of evidence.
OJK POJK
IT risk governance, board accountability, tested resilience.
Governance cadence, audit ownership, regulator correspondence.
UU PDP
A data-protection program with named accountability.
Privacy governance and DPO enablement.
BSSN
Critical-infrastructure security controls.
Control framework and a measured maturity program.
MAS TRM
Technology risk oversight for Singapore entities.
Regional governance through the Singapore office.
ISO 27001 · SOC 2
A certified ISMS and controls assurance.
Readiness sprints and standing ISMS maintenance.
The ground rules
Clear lines. By design.
What this service deliberately is not — and why that protects you.
Statutory roles stay yours
Where OJK or UU PDP requires a named internal officer, your appointee holds the role. We make them effective — we don't replace them.
Risk decisions stay with management
Your vCISO recommends; your leadership accepts risk. Every material decision is recorded in a shared decision log.
Implementation is scoped separately
Build work never hides inside the retainer. Each roadmap project is scoped, priced, and approved on its own.
Capabilities, not vendors
Roadmap items name the capability required, not the brand. Procure anywhere — Zentara bids like anyone else.
Track record
Embedded 12-month vCISO for an Indonesian technology firm — taking BSSN Indeks KAMI maturity from 1.5/5.0 (Tingkat I) toward ≥4.0/5.0, verified by formal re-scores.
Go deeper
For the board and the audit committee
The methodology, the maturity model, and the evidence base — in writing.
FAQ
Common questions
Straight answers. If yours isn't here, ask us directly.
A consultant reports and leaves. A vCISO is a named, accountable executive embedded in your leadership team who owns the security agenda end to end — the roadmap, the governance cadence, the audits, and the regulator correspondence. And it runs on live data from the Zentara stack, so every recommendation traces to evidence, not a template.
Related
More in Advisory & Compliance
Not advice. Accountability.
A security practice built for institutions where failure has national consequences — now available as your leadership layer. Start with the Baseline.