Cybersecurity Leadership Baseline Assessment

What It Is

The Leadership Baseline Assessment is a one-time engagement designed for businesses that have no formal security program in place. It's the foundation that everything else builds on, before you can create a roadmap, you need to know where you stand.

This isn't a penetration test or a vulnerability scan. It's a strategic assessment of your organization's security posture, policy gaps, compliance exposure, and risk priorities, conducted at the leadership level. The deliverable is an executive report that gives you and your board a clear picture of your current state and a prioritized path forward.

A complete picture of your security posture.

Current State Assessment

What security controls, policies, and processes exist today? What's documented? What's informal? We map your actual security posture, not what you hope it is.

Policy Gap Analysis

What policies are missing, outdated, or undocumented? Acceptable use, incident response, data classification, access control, we identify every gap.

Compliance Exposure Review

Which frameworks and regulations apply to your business? HIPAA, NIST CSF, SOC 2, CMMC, PCI DSS, WA state privacy laws, we assess your applicability and exposure.

Risk Prioritization

Not all risks are equal. We prioritize based on your industry, data sensitivity, threat profile, and business impact, so you know what to fix first.

Vendor & MSP Review

Is your MSP or IT team actually delivering on security? We evaluate their coverage, SLAs, and gaps to determine if your technical foundation supports your goals.

Executive Report & Next Steps

A written report with findings, risk scores, and a clear set of prioritized recommendations. Designed to be shared with your leadership team, board, or insurance carrier.

Four to six weeks. Start to finish.

Discovery Session

We meet with your leadership team to understand your business, technology environment, data flows, and concerns. 60-90 minutes.

Evidence Review

We review existing documentation, policies, network diagrams, vendor contracts, and insurance applications. We interview key stakeholders.

Report Delivery

You receive a written executive report with findings, risk priorities, and actionable next steps. We walk through it together in a 60-minute briefing.

Leadership Baseline questions we hear most.

How long does the Leadership Baseline take?+

Typically 4-6 weeks from kickoff to final report delivery. This includes an initial discovery session, evidence and documentation review, stakeholder interviews, and report development.

How much does the Leadership Baseline cost?+

Leadership Baseline Assessments are priced as a one-time engagement, typically ranging from $5,000 to $18,000 depending on organizational size and complexity. We scope and quote during a free discovery call.

Do I need the baseline before starting vCISO advisory?+

Not necessarily, but many clients find it valuable. The baseline gives us a clear, documented starting point. If you move directly into ongoing advisory, we conduct a similar assessment as part of the onboarding process, it just happens over the first few months rather than as a standalone deliverable.

Is this a penetration test or vulnerability scan?+

No. The Leadership Baseline is a strategic assessment conducted at the leadership level. It evaluates your security posture, policies, processes, compliance exposure, and risk priorities. If you need technical testing, we can recommend qualified penetration testing firms.

What do I get at the end?+

A written executive report with: current state assessment, policy gap analysis, compliance exposure review, risk prioritization matrix, and a clear set of prioritized next steps. It is designed to be shared with your leadership team, board, or cyber insurance carrier.

Leadership Baseline Assessment