Strategic Cybersecurity Leadership Without a $300K Salary Line
Petronella Technology Group assigns a seasoned security executive to your organization — someone who builds your security program, reports to your board, manages compliance audits, and coordinates incident response — while you pay a fraction of a full-time CISO's compensation. Founded in 2002 by Craig Petronella, a Licensed Digital Forensic Examiner and CMMC Certified Registered Practitioner, PTG has delivered security leadership to 2,500+ businesses across the Research Triangle and nationwide.
BBB Accredited Since 2003
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Founded 2002
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2,500+ Clients Served
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25+ Years Experience
CMMC-AB RPO • HIPAA • NIST 800-171 • SOC 2 • PCI DSS • ISO 27001
What Is a Virtual CISO — and What Do They Actually Do?
A virtual Chief Information Security Officer (vCISO) is an outsourced security executive who serves as your organization's senior cybersecurity leader on a fractional or part-time basis. Unlike a consultant who hands you a report and walks away, a vCISO embeds into your leadership team, owns your security program, and takes accountability for outcomes over months and years.
At PTG, your vCISO sits in your board meetings, fields questions from your auditors, reviews your security architecture, and makes the risk-based decisions that protect your business. They carry the same authority and responsibility as a full-time CISO — setting security policy, managing risk registers, overseeing vendor evaluations, directing incident response, and reporting security posture to executives — but you engage them at a scope and cadence that fits your organization.
This model exists because the cybersecurity leadership gap is real. Not every organization needs a CISO forty hours a week, but every organization handling sensitive data needs someone with CISO-caliber experience making security decisions. A vCISO closes that gap. Your IT team keeps the infrastructure running. Your vCISO makes sure the right controls, policies, and governance structures are in place so that infrastructure stays secure.
A vCISO Is Not:
- A one-time consultant who delivers a PDF and disappears
- A help-desk technician with an inflated title
- A compliance checkbox service that ignores real risk
- A junior analyst reading from a script
A vCISO Is:
- An experienced security executive embedded in your leadership team
- The person who owns your security program end to end
- Your representative in audits, board rooms, and regulatory conversations
- A strategic decision-maker who translates risk into business language
Why Your Business Needs a Virtual CISO
Security leadership is no longer optional. Regulators, insurance carriers, and customers all expect an identified security executive accountable for your program. Here is why the vCISO model is the right answer for most mid-market organizations.
The CISO Salary Problem in the Triangle
The average Chief Information Security Officer in the Raleigh-Durham metro earns between $230,000 and $350,000 in base salary. Add in bonuses, benefits, equity, and recruiting costs, and the total compensation package easily exceeds $400,000 per year. For a mid-size company operating in Research Triangle Park, that is often the single largest salary line in the organization — larger than the CFO, sometimes larger than the CEO. And even at that price, the demand for qualified CISOs outpaces supply by a wide margin. You are competing against SAS, Cisco, Red Hat, and every federal contractor in the Triangle for the same small pool of candidates. A vCISO delivers the same strategic capabilities for a predictable monthly retainer that typically runs 60 to 80 percent less than a full-time hire.
Regulatory Pressure Is Accelerating
CMMC 2.0 requires defense contractors to demonstrate security program oversight. HIPAA's Security Rule mandates a designated security official. The SEC's cybersecurity disclosure rules force public companies to report material incidents within four business days and describe board-level security governance. PCI DSS 4.0 introduced dozens of new requirements that took effect in 2025. North Carolina's Identity Theft Protection Act (N.C.G.S. 75-65) imposes breach notification obligations and reasonable security measures. Every one of these frameworks assumes someone with security expertise is steering the ship. If your answer to "Who owns your security program?" is "the IT manager, sort of," you have a compliance gap that a vCISO fills immediately.
Cyber Insurance Carriers Are Asking Hard Questions
Insurance underwriting for cyber policies has tightened dramatically. Carriers now ask specific questions about your security governance structure, incident response planning, vulnerability management cadence, and executive oversight. Organizations that cannot demonstrate a formal security program managed by a qualified individual face higher premiums, reduced coverage limits, or outright denials. A vCISO provides the governance structure and documentation that underwriters want to see, often resulting in better policy terms and lower premiums that offset a significant portion of the vCISO engagement cost.
Your IT Team Is Busy Keeping the Lights On
IT operations and cybersecurity strategy are fundamentally different disciplines. Your IT staff manages servers, deploys patches, resets passwords, and supports business applications. Asking them to also develop security policies, conduct risk assessments, manage compliance evidence, and present to the board is like asking your general contractor to also design the building's fire suppression system. They are capable professionals doing important work, but security program leadership requires specialized experience that most IT generalists do not have and should not be expected to acquire on the job. A vCISO works alongside your IT team, providing the strategic direction that makes their operational work more effective.
What PTG's Virtual CISO Service Includes
Every engagement is scoped to your organization's size, industry, and compliance obligations. Below are the core capabilities your vCISO delivers.
Risk Assessment & Management
Your vCISO conducts formal risk assessments aligned to NIST SP 800-30, builds and maintains a risk register, calculates risk scores using quantitative methods, and develops treatment plans that map directly to budget decisions. Risk findings are presented in business terms — dollars of exposure, probability of occurrence, and cost of mitigation — so your leadership team can make informed decisions instead of guessing. Assessments are repeated on a defined cadence and updated whenever your environment, threat landscape, or business operations change.
Security Policy & Governance
PTG's vCISO develops your complete policy framework from scratch or remediates existing policies that have fallen behind. This includes acceptable use, access control, data classification, encryption standards, remote work, incident response, business continuity, vendor management, and change management policies. Every policy is mapped to your applicable compliance frameworks — HIPAA, CMMC, SOC 2, PCI DSS, NIST CSF — so a single policy satisfies multiple regulatory requirements simultaneously. Policies are reviewed annually and updated when regulations change.
Board & Executive Reporting
Your board of directors and executive team need security information they can act on, not a dump of technical metrics. Your vCISO prepares quarterly executive security reports covering program maturity, risk posture trends, compliance status across all applicable frameworks, notable incidents and their resolution, budget utilization, and strategic recommendations. Reports include KPIs benchmarked against industry standards so leadership understands where you stand relative to peers. Your vCISO presents these reports directly and fields questions from board members.
Compliance Program Leadership
Your vCISO owns your compliance program across every applicable framework. They identify which regulations and standards apply to your organization, map controls across overlapping frameworks, manage evidence collection, coordinate with external auditors and assessors, track remediation items through completion, and maintain continuous compliance visibility. PTG's continuous compliance platform provides your vCISO with real-time dashboards showing control status, evidence gaps, and upcoming audit milestones.
Incident Response Planning & Coordination
Your vCISO develops, documents, and tests your incident response plan. This includes defining response team roles and escalation paths, creating playbooks for ransomware, business email compromise, data exfiltration, insider threats, and denial-of-service scenarios. They conduct tabletop exercises with your staff at least annually, coordinate with legal counsel on breach notification obligations under North Carolina law, and ensure your incident response capabilities satisfy insurance policy and regulatory requirements. When a real incident occurs, your vCISO quarterbacks the response.
Vendor & Third-Party Risk Management
Supply chain attacks and third-party breaches are among the fastest-growing threat vectors. Your vCISO establishes a vendor risk management program that evaluates supplier security postures before onboarding, reviews SOC 2 reports and security questionnaires, monitors ongoing vendor risk through continuous assessment, and ensures your third-party ecosystem meets the same standards your own organization maintains. This is mandatory for HIPAA Business Associate compliance, CMMC supply chain requirements, and SOC 2 vendor management criteria.
Security Architecture Review
Your vCISO evaluates your technology stack from a security perspective: network segmentation, cloud configurations, identity and access management, endpoint protection, data loss prevention, email security, and backup architecture. They identify architectural weaknesses that create risk, recommend improvements prioritized by impact and cost, and work with your IT team or managed service provider to implement changes. Architecture reviews happen at onboarding and are updated as your environment evolves through cloud migrations, acquisitions, or infrastructure changes.
Security Awareness Program Oversight
Your vCISO designs and oversees your organization's security awareness training program, including phishing simulation campaigns, role-based training curricula, new-hire security onboarding, and annual refresher requirements. They track completion rates, measure behavioral changes through simulation results, and adjust training content based on actual threats targeting your industry and region. Training programs are mapped to compliance requirements so completion evidence flows directly into audit documentation.
Security Budget Planning
Your vCISO translates security risk into budget recommendations that your CFO can evaluate. They build multi-year security investment roadmaps that prioritize spending against your highest-risk areas, evaluate tool purchases and vendor proposals to prevent overlapping capabilities, and forecast costs for compliance initiatives, technology refreshes, and staffing needs. Budget recommendations are tied directly to risk reduction metrics so leadership can see the return on each security dollar.
Virtual CISO vs. Full-Time CISO: What You Actually Get
The capabilities are the same. The cost model is different. Here is how they compare across the dimensions that matter most.
| Factor | Full-Time CISO | PTG Virtual CISO |
|---|---|---|
| Annual Cost (Raleigh-Durham) | $280K – $450K+ total comp | 60–80% less |
| Time to Hire / Onboard | 4–9 months recruiting + 3 months ramp | Operational within 2 weeks |
| Breadth of Experience | One person's career history | Team of specialists across industries |
| Operational Backup | Single point of failure (vacation, illness, resignation) | Full team continuity — never a gap |
| Board Reporting | Yes | Yes — with cross-industry benchmarks |
| Compliance Frameworks | Depends on individual's background | CMMC, HIPAA, SOC 2, PCI DSS, NIST, ISO 27001 |
| Incident Response Support | Relies on external retainers | Built-in SOC & forensics team |
| Scalability | Fixed cost regardless of need | Scale hours up or down monthly |
| Turnover Risk | High — avg CISO tenure is 26 months | Institutional knowledge stays with PTG |
The average CISO tenure across all industries is roughly 26 months. That means most organizations hiring a full-time CISO will go through the recruiting, onboarding, and knowledge-transfer cycle at least twice within a five-year window. With PTG's vCISO model, your security program's institutional knowledge resides with our team, not with an individual who may leave for a competitor next year.
About Craig Petronella, Founder & CEO: Craig founded PTG in 2002 and has spent 25+ years building cybersecurity programs for organizations of every size. He is a Licensed Digital Forensic Examiner, CMMC Certified Registered Practitioner, and holds cybersecurity certifications from MIT. Craig personally oversees PTG's vCISO engagements and ensures every client receives the same level of rigor he applies to his own security operations.
Call 919-348-4912 to speak with our teamHow a PTG vCISO Engagement Works
We follow a structured onboarding and engagement process that delivers measurable value within the first 30 days and builds toward long-term security program maturity.
Discovery & Assessment
During the first two weeks, your vCISO conducts a thorough assessment of your current security posture. This covers existing policies, technology controls, compliance gaps, organizational structure, threat landscape, and business context. We interview key stakeholders, review documentation, and scan your environment to establish a baseline.
Roadmap & Quick Wins
By day 30, your vCISO delivers a security program roadmap: a prioritized, multi-year plan that sequences initiatives by risk reduction impact and resource requirements. Quick wins identified during assessment — policy gaps, configuration weaknesses, compliance documentation holes — are addressed immediately while longer-term projects are scheduled.
Program Buildout
Over months two through six, your vCISO executes the roadmap. Policies are written or rewritten. Risk registers are formalized. Compliance evidence collection becomes systematic. Incident response plans are documented and tested. Board reporting cadences are established. Your security program transitions from reactive to structured.
Ongoing Governance
With the foundation in place, your vCISO shifts to ongoing governance: quarterly program reviews, annual risk assessments, policy updates, audit preparation, threat landscape briefings, vendor risk evaluations, and continuous improvement initiatives. The program matures over time, and your vCISO adjusts the strategy as your business grows and regulations evolve.
What distinguishes PTG's vCISO service from standalone consultants is operational backing. Your vCISO is supported by PTG's full security operations team — SOC analysts, compliance specialists, incident responders, and digital forensic examiners. When your vCISO identifies a control gap or recommends a change, the operational team implements it. Strategy becomes reality without the delay of sourcing additional vendors. This integrated approach means your security posture improves faster and more completely than any advisory-only engagement can deliver.
Industries We Serve with vCISO Leadership
PTG's vCISO team has deep experience across regulated industries in the Research Triangle and nationwide. Each engagement is informed by industry-specific regulatory requirements, threat patterns, and operational realities.
Healthcare & Life Sciences
HIPAA Security Officer designation, ePHI risk assessments, Business Associate agreement management, breach notification coordination under HHS and North Carolina law, and OCR audit preparation. PTG has guided healthcare organizations across Raleigh, Durham, and the Triangle through compliance cycles and security program builds. Our vCISOs understand the unique challenges of protecting patient data in clinical, research, and administrative environments where availability cannot be compromised for security.
Defense Industrial Base
CMMC 2.0 program leadership, NIST SP 800-171 implementation oversight, CUI handling procedures, System Security Plan development and maintenance, Plan of Action and Milestones management, and DFARS 252.204-7012 compliance. Research Triangle Park hosts hundreds of defense contractors and subcontractors who must demonstrate cybersecurity maturity to retain contracts. PTG holds CMMC-AB RPO status, and our vCISOs guide DIB organizations from gap assessment through certification readiness.
Financial Services
SOC 2 Type II program management, PCI DSS compliance oversight, FTC Safeguards Rule implementation, GLBA compliance, examiner relationship management, and board-level cybersecurity reporting for financial regulators. Our vCISOs serve banks, credit unions, fintech startups, investment advisors, and insurance companies across North Carolina, bringing deep understanding of the regulatory expectations unique to financial institutions.
Legal & Professional Services
Client data protection, ABA ethical obligation compliance for safeguarding client information, eDiscovery security, secure communications architecture, privilege-protected data governance, and response to client security questionnaires. Law firms in Raleigh and Durham increasingly face sophisticated social engineering attacks targeting trust accounts and privileged communications. PTG vCISOs build security programs that satisfy bar association guidance, client requirements, and cyber insurance mandates.
Technology & SaaS
SOC 2 certification leadership, secure software development lifecycle (SDLC) oversight, customer trust center development, penetration testing program management, security questionnaire response programs, and security as a competitive differentiator. Triangle-area technology companies — from Series A startups to established SaaS providers — use PTG's vCISO service to build the security posture that enterprise customers demand before signing contracts.
Manufacturing & Supply Chain
OT/IT security convergence strategy, industrial control system protection, ITAR compliance leadership, supply chain risk management, and CMMC readiness for manufacturers serving defense contracts. North Carolina's growing manufacturing sector faces threats that span both information technology and operational technology environments. PTG vCISOs bring experience securing production systems where downtime carries immediate financial consequences.
How To Choose A Cybersecurity Provider
Why Organizations Choose PTG Over Other vCISO Providers
Backed by a Full Security Operations Team
Independent vCISO consultants advise. PTG's vCISOs act. When your vCISO identifies a vulnerability, our SOC analysts and incident responders remediate it. When they recommend a policy change, our compliance team implements the documentation and evidence collection. When they detect a threat, our digital forensic examiners investigate. You get strategy and execution from the same organization, which means recommendations become reality in days, not months.
Forensic-Grade Credentials
Craig Petronella, PTG's founder, is a Licensed Digital Forensic Examiner and CMMC Certified Registered Practitioner with MIT cybersecurity certification and 25+ years of hands-on experience. This is not a consulting firm that rebranded into cybersecurity last year. PTG was built on digital forensics and incident response, which means our vCISOs understand threats from the attacker's perspective — they have investigated breaches, preserved evidence for legal proceedings, and testified as expert witnesses. That depth of experience informs every strategic recommendation.
Local Presence, National Reach
PTG is headquartered at 5540 Centerview Dr., Suite 200, Raleigh, NC 27606, with staff who know the Triangle business community firsthand. Your vCISO can attend board meetings in person, visit your office for security walkthroughs, and meet with local regulators face to face. For organizations outside the Triangle, we deliver the same depth of service through secure video, our compliance platform, and scheduled on-site visits. We serve clients nationwide while maintaining the responsiveness that comes from being a local firm, not a faceless national consultancy.
Flexible, Contract-Free Engagement
PTG offers vCISO engagements starting at 10 hours per month for organizations beginning their security program journey, scaling to dedicated full-time virtual executives for complex, multi-framework compliance environments. Scale up during audit preparation, incident response, or board reporting cycles. Scale down during steady-state periods. No long-term contracts are required. If we do not deliver value, you are free to leave — which is exactly the incentive structure that keeps us performing at the highest level every month.
vCISO Questions, Answered Directly
What exactly is a virtual CISO?
A virtual CISO (vCISO) is an experienced cybersecurity executive who serves as your organization's senior security leader on a part-time or fractional basis. They perform the same functions as an in-house Chief Information Security Officer — risk management, security policy development, compliance program oversight, board reporting, incident response coordination, and vendor risk management — at a cost that reflects the actual time your organization needs. At PTG, your vCISO is not a junior analyst with a fancy title. They are a seasoned security professional backed by our full operations team, serving businesses across Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill, Research Triangle Park, and nationwide.
How much does PTG's vCISO service cost?
Pricing is based on the scope of engagement, which varies by organization size, industry, compliance requirements, and current security maturity. Most mid-market organizations save 60 to 80 percent compared to the total compensation of a full-time CISO in the Raleigh-Durham market, where total compensation (salary, benefits, bonuses, equity) ranges from $280,000 to $450,000 or more. Every engagement starts with a free consultation where we assess your needs and provide a specific proposal. Call 919-348-4912 or request a consultation online.
What is the difference between a vCISO and a security consultant?
A security consultant typically scopes a project, delivers a report, and moves on. A vCISO is an ongoing member of your leadership team who owns your security program over time. They attend your board meetings, manage your compliance audits, refine your policies year after year, and are accountable for your security posture — not just for delivering a deliverable. The vCISO relationship is continuous and evolving; the consultant relationship is transactional and finite. PTG's vCISOs also have execution capability through our operations team, which most consultants lack entirely.
How quickly can a vCISO start contributing?
PTG vCISO engagements become operational within two weeks. During the first 14 days, your vCISO conducts stakeholder interviews, reviews existing documentation, and scans your environment to build a baseline understanding. By day 30, you receive a formal assessment with identified quick wins and a prioritized roadmap. Most organizations see measurable improvements — closed compliance gaps, documented policies, risk register creation — within the first 60 days. By the six-month mark, the security program is structured, governance cadences are established, and your organization has a defensible security posture that stakeholders can point to.
Do we still need a vCISO if we have an IT manager or IT director?
Yes. IT management and security leadership are different disciplines. Your IT director manages infrastructure availability, application support, help desk operations, and technology procurement. A vCISO manages security risk, compliance obligations, incident response readiness, policy governance, and executive security reporting. Most IT leaders are skilled operators who lack the time, specialized training, and regulatory expertise to run a security program alongside their operational responsibilities. Your vCISO works collaboratively with your IT team, providing the strategic direction that makes their work more secure without adding to their plate.
Which compliance frameworks does PTG's vCISO service cover?
PTG's vCISOs provide program leadership across CMMC 2.0, HIPAA, NIST SP 800-171, NIST Cybersecurity Framework, SOC 2 Type I and Type II, PCI DSS, ISO 27001, FTC Safeguards Rule, GDPR, FERPA, ITAR, and North Carolina state data protection requirements. Our vCISOs manage overlapping framework requirements through unified control mapping, which means implementing one control satisfies requirements across multiple frameworks simultaneously — reducing effort and cost while ensuring nothing falls through the cracks.
Can the vCISO attend our board meetings and represent us to auditors?
Absolutely. Board reporting and auditor coordination are core vCISO responsibilities, not optional add-ons. Your PTG vCISO prepares quarterly security reports tailored to your board's expectations, presents them in person or via video, and fields questions from directors. During compliance audits, your vCISO serves as the primary point of contact for assessors, manages evidence requests, coordinates remediation activities, and ensures the audit proceeds without disrupting your operations. Many of our clients report that having a credentialed vCISO present in these settings significantly increases stakeholder confidence.
What happens if we experience a security incident?
Your vCISO has already developed and tested your incident response plan, so when an incident occurs, the playbook is ready. Your vCISO coordinates the response: activating the response team, directing containment and eradication, managing communications with legal counsel and affected parties, coordinating with law enforcement if necessary, and overseeing recovery. Because PTG's vCISOs are backed by our SOC and digital forensics team, you do not need to scramble for external incident response vendors. The same team that built your defenses investigates the breach and leads recovery.
How does PTG's vCISO service differ from other providers?
Three things set PTG apart. First, operational integration: your vCISO is backed by our SOC, compliance team, and forensics capability, so strategy and execution happen under one roof. Second, forensic-grade credentials: PTG was founded by a Licensed Digital Forensic Examiner who has investigated breaches, testified as an expert witness, and built security programs informed by real-world attacker behavior. Third, longevity and reputation: we have been doing this since 2002, hold BBB accreditation since 2003, and have served over 2,500 businesses. We are not a consulting firm that pivoted into cybersecurity recently.
What if we eventually want to hire a full-time CISO?
PTG's vCISO service is designed to grow with you. If your organization reaches the size and complexity where a full-time CISO makes sense, your PTG vCISO transitions the program: documenting all policies, risk registers, compliance evidence, and governance processes; creating a CISO job description based on your actual needs; supporting the interview process with technical evaluation; and providing overlap onboarding for the incoming hire. Many organizations retain PTG in an advisory capacity alongside their in-house CISO, using our operational team as a force multiplier.
Do you serve businesses outside Raleigh-Durham?
Yes. PTG is headquartered in Raleigh and provides in-person vCISO services throughout Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill, Cary, Apex, Morrisville, and the broader Research Triangle Park area. Our remote engagement model serves clients across North Carolina and nationwide with the same SLAs, reporting cadences, and depth of service. Remote engagements use our secure compliance platform for real-time visibility, encrypted video for executive briefings and board presentations, and scheduled on-site visits for activities that benefit from physical presence.
Get Security Leadership Your Business Deserves
Schedule a free vCISO consultation with PTG. We will assess your current security posture, identify the gaps that put your business at risk, and show you exactly how a virtual CISO from Petronella Technology Group can protect your organization — without the six-figure salary. Serving Raleigh, Durham, RTP, and businesses nationwide since 2002.
BBB Accredited Since 2003 • 2,500+ Clients • CMMC-AB RPO • Licensed Digital Forensic Examiners • No Long-Term Contracts
