Cybersecurity outsourcing is the full-stack option: we run your security program — strategy, operations, compliance, incident response — as if it were our own. Right for organizations that don't want security to be an in-house function at all.
What is Cybersecurity Outsourcing?
Cybersecurity outsourcing is the full-stack option: CyberBullet runs your entire security function — strategy, operations, compliance, incident response, vendor management, executive reporting — as a managed service. You don’t have an in-house security team because you don’t need one.
It’s the right model when security needs to exist as a real organizational capability but doesn’t justify an in-house team build-out.
Why outsource security?
Security is a high-skill, high-stakes function. Building it in-house requires:
- Hiring talent in the most competitive labor market in tech — qualified senior security people are scarce and expensive
- Retaining them — the average security engineer stays under 24 months at any one employer
- Building processes around them — incident response, vulnerability management, vendor review, audit support all require operational scaffolding
- Investing in the tooling stack — SIEM, EDR, IAM, vulnerability management, threat intel, ticketing all become recurring line items
- Maintaining the program through team transitions — knowledge that walks out the door with each departure
For a large organization with steady-state security needs, this investment makes sense. For mid-market companies — especially in non-tech industries — the math often doesn’t work. You’re rebuilding the same infrastructure that already exists at firms whose entire business is security.
Outsourcing inverts the model. You access mature security operations, established processes, retained institutional knowledge, and existing tooling — without the in-house build cost.
What an outsourced engagement looks like
Onboarding (Weeks 1-6)
We start with a structured onboarding: environment discovery, asset inventory, control posture baseline, existing tooling inventory, stakeholder mapping, and incident response procedure documentation. The output is a current-state assessment and a 90-day action plan.
Steady-State Operations
Once onboarded, we run security as your in-house team would:
- Continuous vulnerability management — scanning, validation, remediation tracking
- Incident detection and response — 24/7 monitoring with on-call escalation procedures
- Compliance maintenance — control drift monitoring, evidence freshness, regulatory change tracking
- Vendor security review — for every new vendor or significant contract change
- Identity and access governance — joiner/leaver procedures, access review cycles, privileged access management
- Security awareness program — training, phishing simulations, metrics
Strategic Direction
A senior CyberBullet practitioner serves as the executive interface with your leadership — quarterly board-level reporting, annual program planning, budget recommendations, and major incident communication.
Major Engagements
Penetration tests, framework assessments, compliance audits, and specialized work happen as scheduled rather than as separate procurement events. They’re scoped, executed, and integrated into your program work as part of the relationship.
What we don’t try to do
- Replace your IT operations team — we work alongside IT, not instead of it
- Lock you into our tooling — we use what you have, recommend changes when they matter
- Make every decision for you — business-impact decisions stay with you; we provide the security input to inform them
- Build long-term lock-in — explicit transition plans are part of every engagement; you can bring security in-house when it makes sense
Who this is for
- Mid-market organizations in non-tech industries (manufacturing, professional services, healthcare administration) where security is required but not core competency
- Companies recovering from a significant incident that need established operational maturity faster than an in-house build can deliver
- Pre-acquisition companies needing audit-ready security posture in a defined timeline
- Organizations whose CISO departed and don’t want to recruit a replacement
- Multi-entity organizations (PE portcos, holding companies) needing consistent security across business units
Our methodology
Every engagement runs through the same six phases. Manual validation isn't a finishing step — it's the product.
Scope & Authorize
We define the engagement boundary precisely before testing starts — in-scope assets, out-of-bounds targets, testing windows, and emergency-stop procedures.
- Written authorization letters exchanged before any packet leaves our infrastructure
- Signal / Slack channel established for real-time findings during the engagement
- Explicit rules of engagement reviewed with legal, IT, and business stakeholders
Passive Reconnaissance
Before a single packet touches your infrastructure, we map your external footprint using public sources only — DNS, CT logs, code repos, internet-wide scan data.
- Typically discovers 15-30% more attack surface than the client originally provided
- Certificate transparency, BGP, and GitHub exposure reporting
- OSINT profile for social engineering vectors if in scope
Active Discovery
We enumerate live services across in-scope assets — ports, software versions, auth mechanisms, and protocol configurations — correlated against current vuln data.
- Hand-tuned scanning profiles — not the default Nessus run
- Protocol-level inspection for TLS, SSH, SMB, Kerberos, LDAP
- Service fingerprinting to ground truth before any exploitation
Manual Validation
Every potential issue is validated by hand before it makes the report. No CVE-dumping. No false positives. This is what separates the engagement from a scan.
- Manual exploitation attempts for any finding of High severity or above
- Business-logic testing on top of the technical layer
- Chained vulnerabilities analyzed as a single attack path
Exploitation & Impact
For confirmed vulnerabilities with attacker value, we attempt exploitation to prove impact — not just that a CVE applies, but what it gets you.
- Proof-of-exploit captured for every confirmed critical finding
- Pivot paths mapped to the actual crown-jewel data
- Interim notification inside 24 hours for anything critical
Report & Remediate
Every finding is paired with severity rated on real exploitability, reproducible proof-of-exploit, and remediation guidance your team can ship this sprint.
- Executive summary and technical deep-dive in a single report
- Findings mapped to CIS, NIST CSF, and relevant compliance families
- Retest included — we confirm the fix before we close the finding
What you walk away with
Frameworks we map to
Findings ship mapped to the control families your regulators and auditors actually check. Governance clients use these crosswalks directly in their program documentation.
- CIS Controls v8
- NIST CSF 2.0 / 800-53
- PCI DSS 4.0
- HIPAA Security Rule
- SOC 2 Type II
- OWASP ASVS
Questions we get asked
How is this different from a vCISO engagement?
A vCISO is executive leadership only — strategy, oversight, board communication. The operational work still has to be done by someone (your team, other vendors). Outsourcing is the full stack — we run both the executive function and the operational work. You don't have an in-house security team because you don't need one; we are it.
Do you replace our existing security tools?
Usually no — we work with what you have, add what's missing. The point of outsourcing is to remove operational burden, not to lock you into our tooling. We do recommend specific tools when your existing stack has gaps, but the decision (and contract) is yours. We have no kickback relationships with security vendors.
What about during a major incident?
We run the response. The full breach IR team activates within hours: detection, containment, evidence preservation, regulatory notifications, customer communication coordination, post-incident review. You're informed continuously and make all business-impact decisions; we run the security mechanics.
Can we bring this in-house later?
Yes — we explicitly support that transition. Many clients use outsourcing to bridge a phase of growth (early-stage scaling, post-incident recovery, M&A integration) and then build an in-house function once the steady-state needs justify it. We help with the hire, do the handoff, and step into a lighter advisory role going forward. Lock-in is bad for both sides.
What's the typical engagement size?
Outsourcing engagements are sized to environment complexity rather than headcount. A small mid-market organization (50-200 employees, mid-complexity environment) typically engages a 2-3 person dedicated team. Larger environments scale up. Pricing is monthly retainer; specific quotes provided after a scoping engagement.