Product · Cyber Risk Assessment
Independent Cyber Risk Assessment
SecureStart™ is a fixed-scope, independently delivered cyber risk assessment from Cyber Defense Advisors. In three weeks and about six hours of client time, it rates all 106 NIST CSF 2.0 subcategories, quantifies exposure in dollars using FAIR, and delivers a costed remediation roadmap and an executive readout.
SecureStart is a fixed-scope, independently delivered cyber risk assessment that tells an executive team three things in three weeks: where the program actually stands against NIST CSF 2.0, what the exposure is worth in dollars, and what to fix first.
It is scoped for companies that need a defensible answer fast — for an insurance renewal, a customer questionnaire, a board that has started asking — without committing to a multi-month engagement. Roughly six hours of client time, start to readout.
Scope
All 106 subcategories of NIST CSF 2.0, rated on a six-level CMMI-aligned maturity scale, across the six Framework Functions.
Strategy, roles, policy, oversight, and how cyber risk reaches the board.
Asset and data inventory, business environment, risk assessment practice, supplier risk.
Identity and access, awareness, data security, platform security, resilience of technology.
Monitoring coverage, logging, alerting, and how anomalies are actually adjudicated.
Incident response plan, roles, communications, analysis, mitigation, lessons learned.
Recovery planning, execution, and communications — tested against real scenarios.
Deliverables
All 106 NIST CSF 2.0 subcategories rated, with current and target state.
Annualized loss exposure using FAIR, so risk is stated in dollars.
Phased, sequenced, with effort and investment attached to each item.
A 60-minute session for the leadership team and, where asked, the board.
A short narrative a non-technical director can read and act on.
Delivery approach
Kickoff, scoping confirmation, document request, stakeholder scheduling.
Days 1–3
Structured interviews and evidence review across all six Functions.
Days 4–10
Maturity scoring, FAIR modeling, prioritization and roadmap costing.
Days 11–15
Report build, internal QA, named-assessor sign-off, executive readout.
Days 16–21
Optional remediation oversight, re-assessment, or fractional security leadership.
Elective
Timeline. Three weeks from kickoff to executive readout. Approximately six hours of client time.
| Standard / authority | Applied to |
|---|---|
| NIST CSF 2.0 | Assessment spine — all 106 subcategories across the six Functions |
| CMMI-aligned maturity model | Six-level scoring, so progress is measurable year over year |
| FAIR (Factor Analysis of Information Risk) | Annualized loss exposure and scenario modeling |
| NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 | Control reference for remediation design |
| ISO/IEC 27001:2022 | Crosswalk for clients heading toward certification |
| ISO 31000:2018 | Risk criteria, scoring and treatment discipline |
Responsible AI
Every rating, every dollar figure and every recommendation is reviewed and signed by a named CDA assessor. AI does not score, and it does not sign.
Why CDA
The assessment is independent of anything else CDA offers. Findings are never steered toward a product or service. The finding is the finding.
FAIR loss modeling turns a heat map into a number a CFO can weigh against the cost of fixing it.
A senior practitioner owns the engagement and signs the report. Scanning tools and SaaS dashboards do not produce a defensible opinion.
The client owns the report and the roadmap and may take either to any provider, including a competitor.
Companies from roughly 50 to 1,000 employees in regulated or contract-driven sectors — financial services, healthcare, insurance, legal, construction and AEC, manufacturing, professional services, and PE portfolio companies — that have IT leadership but no full-time security executive.
Non-invasive and evidence-based; intrusive testing requires separate written authorization. Evidence is held under NDA in CDA's environment. AI-assisted analysis is reviewed and signed by a named CDA assessor; client data is not used to train external models. Not a certification or audit opinion.
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Learn moreFixed-fee, scoped to your environment · 833-54-CYBER (833-542-9237)