People before providers
Choose the right security help for your team
Decide what your team can own, when to hire a specialist and how to compare security providers before buying services.
First decide who will do the work
- Use your internal team when it has the skills and time. Assign an owner and a review cadence before buying another tool.
- Use a consultant for a bounded gap assessment, design review or preparation project. Ask for concrete deliverables and a handover.
- Use an MSP or MSSP when you need ongoing operation or alert handling. Agree coverage hours, response authority, escalation and what is excluded.
Security leadership / fractional CISO
When it helps: No one owns priorities, risk decisions or follow-through across the business.
Ask for a risk-based plan, named control owners, a decision cadence and clear boundaries with IT. Compare an internal lead, an independent consultant and a fractional CISO service.
Certification and audit preparation
When it helps: A customer or contract requires an assessment, and your team needs help with scope, gaps or evidence.
Compare relevant framework experience, a sample gap assessment, evidence ownership and the full cost of preparation and assessment. Confirm any independence requirements with the assessor. A consultant or software subscription cannot guarantee a certificate.
AI infrastructure security review
When it helps: Models run on your infrastructure and can access company data, applications or tools.
Look for experience with your serving stack, access controls, isolation, model and dependency updates, logging and testing. Request a prioritized hardening plan and a retest; compare internal engineering with a specialist reviewer.
Compare written scopes, not promises
Send the same requirements to each candidate. Compare included systems, evidence and deliverables, operator time, access to your data, response responsibilities, total cost and exit terms. Request a sample output and check relevant references. This guide does not rank service providers.
Build a plan to share with your team or any provider