Your board says you need a “security person.” Your CTO is handling security between feature sprints. Your enterprise prospect just asked who your CISO is. You don’t have one.
Hiring a full-time CISO in India costs ₹40–80 lakh per year. For a Seed-to-Series B startup burning ₹15–30 lakh per month, that’s not a hire. It’s a bet.
There’s a middle ground: a fractional security team.
What Is a Fractional Security Team?
A fractional security team gives your startup access to senior security expertise (AppSec, InfraSec, and GRC) on a part-time basis. Instead of hiring one full-time person, you get a team of specialists for the hours you actually need.
At Cyber Secify, this means:
- 2 to 8 hours per day, 22 working days per month
- 3-month minimum commitment
- Three roles covered: Application Security, Infrastructure Security, and Governance/Risk/Compliance
- Senior-only delivery: OSCP, CREST, and ISO 27001 LA certified team, not junior analysts
It’s like having a security team without the headcount.
The Real Cost Comparison
| Full-Time CISO | Fractional Security Team | |
|---|---|---|
| Annual cost | ₹40–80 lakh salary + benefits | ₹7–31 lakh/year (based on hours) |
| Monthly cost | ₹3.3–6.7 lakh/month | ₹60,000–2,60,000/month |
| Coverage | 1 person, 1 skill set | 3 roles (AppSec, InfraSec, GRC) |
| Hiring time | 2–4 months to find + onboard | Start within 1 week |
| Commitment | 12-month minimum (practically) | 3-month minimum |
| Scaling | Hire more people | Add more hours |
| Risk if wrong fit | 6–12 months wasted + severance | Stop after 3 months |
Fractional Pricing Breakdown
| Role | 2 hrs/day | 4 hrs/day | 8 hrs/day |
|---|---|---|---|
| Application Security | ₹60,000/mo | ₹1,00,000/mo | ₹1,75,000/mo |
| Infrastructure Security | ₹85,000/mo | ₹1,50,000/mo | ₹2,60,000/mo |
All rates based on 22 working days per month.
What Each Role Actually Does
Application Security (AppSec)
Your code ships fast. AppSec makes sure it ships securely.
- Code reviews for security flaws before merge
- API security architecture and review
- WAF configuration and tuning
- Secure SDLC implementation
- CloudFlare security configuration
- Developer security guidance and training
- Vulnerability triage from automated tools
Who delivers: Senior AppSec engineer (OSCP certified), not a junior analyst running scanners.
Infrastructure Security (InfraSec)
Your cloud grows. InfraSec makes sure it doesn’t grow insecure.
- AWS/GCP/Azure security configuration and hardening
- IAM policy review and least-privilege enforcement
- Network segmentation and security group management
- Container and Kubernetes security
- CI/CD pipeline hardening
- Server hardening and patch management
Who delivers: Infrastructure security lead with cloud security certifications.
Governance, Risk & Compliance (GRC)
Your enterprise prospect asks for SOC 2. GRC makes it happen.
- Risk assessments and risk register maintenance
- SOC 2 / ISO 27001 / DPDP readiness
- Policy and procedure documentation
- Vendor risk assessments
- Audit preparation and evidence collection
- Board-level security reporting
Who delivers: GRC lead with ISO 27001 Lead Auditor certification.
When a Fractional Team Makes More Sense
You should go fractional if:
- You’re Seed to Series B with 10–100 employees
- You have no dedicated security person or your DevOps engineer is “handling security”
- You need multiple security skills (AppSec + InfraSec + compliance), not just one
- You need to show security maturity to enterprise prospects or investors
- You want to start within a week, not wait 3 months for a hire
- Your security needs are 4–8 hours/day, not 8 hours/day every day
You should hire a full-time CISO if:
- You’re Series C+ with 200+ employees
- You have a dedicated security budget of ₹50 lakh+/year
- You need someone in leadership meetings daily
- You’re building an internal security team (3+ people) and need a manager
- Regulatory requirements mandate a named security officer (banking, insurance)
Most startups hit the fractional criteria first. The full-time CISO hire makes sense when you’ve outgrown fractional, typically post-Series B.
How It Works at Cyber Secify
Step 1: Security on Demand (₹9,999)
4 hours of founder-led work. We diagnose your security gaps, understand your stack, and recommend what you need. Fully refundable if you don’t continue. See how it works →
Step 2: Security Retainer (₹24,999)
10 hours of deeper engagement. We deliver real security work: reviews, hardening, testing. You experience our quality before committing to monthly hours. See how it works →
Step 3: Fractional Security Team (Proposal-Based)
Once you’ve seen our work, we scope the right combination of AppSec, InfraSec, and GRC hours for your needs. 3-month minimum, pay monthly.
Both founders are hands-on: Ashok (CEO, consulting + GRC) and Rathnakara (CHO, OSCP, pentesting + InfraSec). No account managers, no junior handoffs.
The Question to Ask
“Do I need a security person, or do I need security expertise?”
A full-time CISO is a person. A fractional security team is expertise, available when you need it, at the depth you need it, without the ₹40–80 lakh/year commitment.
Most startups need the expertise first. The person comes later, when the security program is mature enough to manage.
We’re based in Bengaluru and work exclusively with AI-first and API-first SaaS startups. Learn more about how fractional engagements work on our security consulting services page, see our consulting methodology, contact us to discuss your security needs, or start with a Security on Demand session (4 hours, ₹9,999, fully refundable).