DWA Services

Strategic and Tactical IT Consulting

(vISO)

Contracted or On-Demand

When “security” feels like a pile of policies, tools, and vendor opinions, it’s hard to know what actually reduces risk. DWA’s Strategic and Tactical IT Consulting (vISO) service gives you experienced security leadership - without the overhead of a full-time hire - so you can make clear decisions, prove progress, and keep your organization both secure and compliant.

Our vISO support is built for high-trust environments (especially financial and healthcare) where leadership needs a practical program - not a binder on a shelf. We help you design, implement, and mature the governance and security practices that regulators and auditors expect: board level oversight, documented programs, risk assessment, control validation, and evidence that the work is being done.

What a vISO does

A vISO is your fractional Information Security Officer - a senior security leader who helps you:

Set direction (security strategy aligned to business needs and risk appetite).
Build the program (policies, standards, procedures, roles, and reporting).
Drive execution (prioritize remediation, guide vendors, improve controls, and keep momentum).
Prove it (evidence, meeting minutes, reporting, and measurable progress).

This is not “consulting theater.” It’s practical leadership that produces outcomes your board can understand and your IT team can implement.

What we focus on

Depending on your needs, DWA vISO engagements commonly include:

Governance & Program Management
- Security program structure, accountability, and board reporting cadence.
- Policy and program development / refresh (including cloud considerations).
- Risk assessment improvements and prioritization of controls.

Control Oversight & Validation
- Help designing a testing plan for key security controls (what to test, how often, and who should test).
- Coordinating independent testing and using results to drive corrective action.
- Advising on vulnerability scanning/assessing roles and expectations (IT / MSP / independent assessor).

Incident Readiness & Resilience
- Practical improvements to incident response and preparedness (including breach notification readiness where applicable).
- Tabletop exercises and “what we’d do Monday morning” planning.

Vendor & Third-Party Oversight
- Strengthening vendor risk oversight and ensuring responsibilities are clear and evidenced.

How we work, DWA style

We keep it simple and disciplined:

Get oriented quickly: understand your environment, constraints, and current program maturity.
Prioritize what matters: focus on risks with real impact to confidentiality, integrity, and availability.
Create a practical plan: clear actions, owners, and timelines - no filler.
Establish evidence: ensure work is documented and visible through appropriate management and board minutes and reporting.
Improve continuously: revisit risk, validate controls, and keep the program moving.

Engagement options: Contracted or On Demand

Contracted vISO (recommended for consistency)

A defined monthly cadence (for example: leadership syncs, program oversight, vendor/security reviews, and board ready reporting).

On Demand vISO (great for targeted needs)

Point in time support for policy updates, incident readiness, vendor concerns, audit/exam preparation, or “we need a senior security opinion this week.”

What you get

Deliverables are tailored, but commonly include:

A current state snapshot and prioritized improvement roadmap.
Updated or newly developed policies/programs/procedures (right sized for your organization).
A control testing plan (what to test, frequency, and independence).
Board ready reporting and a cadence that supports governance evidence.
Practical guidance to integrate vulnerability scanning/assessing into a sustainable program (with proper ownership).

Where this fits

DWA vISO helps you lead, prioritize, and prove progress.
Your IT staff or MSP typically owns day to day remediation and operations (patching, configuration changes, deployments, and ongoing vulnerability management).

That separation keeps roles clean, accountability clear, and outcomes defensible.