The role of the CISO in 2025: why outsourcing can make a difference

In cybersecurity, it is no longer enough to have tools. You have to know how to govern them, evaluate them and make strategic decisions aligned with the business. This is where a key figure comes in: the CISO (Chief Information Security Officer). And yes, more and more companies are realising that outsourcing this profile is not only a viable solution, but a critical one to guarantee their continuity.

What does a CISO really do?

The CISO is not just another technician. Nor is he or she ‘the antivirus guy’ or the person who checks if the firewall is properly configured.

A CISO is responsible for protecting the company's digital assets and ensuring that all critical processes have a cross-cutting security approach, from strategy to execution.

His or her duties include:

Defining the cybersecurity strategy aligned with business objectives.

• Identifying and assessing technological risks.
• Coordinating with the technical team the implementation of protection measures.
• Supervise regulatory compliance (RGPD, NIS2, ENS, ISO 27001...).
• Manage high impact security incidents.
• Report directly to senior management or to the Board, with clear reports on the state of security.

In short: the CISO is the one who ensures that the business does not stop because of a security breach.

El reto: no todas las empresas pueden tener un CISO interno

Having a CISO in-house is ideal, but not always possible.

• Some companies do not have the volume, budget or structure to incorporate this profile.
• Others, although they have a CISO, need to reinforce their operational and strategic capacity with a specialised team to support them on a day-to-day basis.

This is where the CISO as a Service model comes into its own.

¿Qué es un CISO as a Service?

It is a service that allows you to have an expert team in strategic, legal and operational cybersecurity, which assumes the functions of the CISO partially or completely, depending on your needs.

At GrayHats, this service is led by professionals with real experience in security management, and reinforced by a technical, legal and compliance team that works together to:

• Establish a tailored cybersecurity plan.
• Ensure regulatory compliance.
• Support audits, certifications and document management.
• Coordinate incident response.

And, above all, accompany management in making decisions that affect digital risk.

Who is this service for?

• For companies that do not have a CISO and need a reference figure with strategic and technical vision, without having to hire it internally.
• For companies that already have a CISO, but require operational reinforcement, documentary support, regulatory advice or a second layer of validation.

In both cases, the benefit is clear: you increase your response capacity, align security with business and ensure that cybersecurity does not remain in the hands of a single person.

The value of continuity

Today, the threats do not warn. Attacks do not rest. And human error is inevitable.

Having a CISO (internal or external) is no longer an option. It is a strategic piece for the continuity, reputation and resilience of any business that depends on its systems to operate.

And if you can have that leadership in the hands of a team with multidisciplinary vision, real experience and focus on your business, even better.

Interested in finding out how the CISO as a Service model would work for your business, contact us today and let's talk about how we can help you.