Transparent pricing. No surprises.
Most cyber consultancies hide their fees behind "contact us". We don't. Here is what our Virtual CISO retainers and fixed-fee engagements cost — so you can budget, compare and decide before you ever pick up the phone. Independent, senior-led, vendor-neutral — every price is for work delivered by a practitioner with 27 years hands-on, not a junior bench.
Senior security leadership on demand. A named, accountable CISO owning your security program — at a fraction of a full-time hire (a full-time CISO in Australia costs $250,000–$400,000+ a year, before recruitment).
Growing businesses, councils and SMEs putting security leadership in place for the first time.
The core engagement — organisations with real obligations and a board that needs answers.
Listed, regulated and critical-infrastructure entities under active scrutiny.
Retainers are month-to-month with no lock-in, scaled to your organisation and reviewed as your maturity grows. Most clients start with a fixed-fee assessment (below), then move to a retainer once they've seen what informed oversight looks like.
Defined scope, defined deliverables, one fixed fee agreed before we start — confirmed after a short scoping call. No hourly billing, no scope surprises.
All fees are in AUD and exclude GST. "From" reflects the typical starting point; the exact fixed fee depends on scope (number of systems, cloud accounts, repos, locations) and is confirmed in writing before any work begins.
Because you deserve to know what something costs before you invest an hour in a sales call — and because we have nothing to hide. We sell no products, take no referral commissions, and quote fixed fees against defined deliverables. The number you see is the number you pay. That transparency is the same principle that makes our findings independent and defensible: no hidden margin, no incentive to inflate scope, no surprise on the invoice.
How much does a Virtual CISO cost in Australia?
CISO Advisory Australia offers Virtual CISO retainers from $3,500 per month (Foundation), $6,500 per month (Standard) and $9,500 per month (Enterprise), month-to-month with no lock-in. By comparison, a full-time CISO in Australia typically costs $250,000–$400,000+ a year before recruitment. Retainers are scaled to your organisation’s size and obligations.
How much does an Essential Eight assessment cost?
An Essential Eight maturity assessment starts from $8,500, and a combined assessment plus uplift program (with a prioritised, costed roadmap and implementation oversight) starts from $18,000. Both are fixed fee, with the exact price confirmed after a short scoping call.
How much does a penetration test cost in Australia?
A web-application penetration test starts from $7,500, including a retest and an attestation letter. A combined penetration test with social-engineering (phishing / pretexting) testing starts from $12,000. Pricing depends on the scope of the application and environment.
How much does ISO 27001 or SOC 2 readiness cost?
ISO/IEC 27001:2022 readiness and SOC 2 readiness each start from $12,500 — covering ISMS or control-environment design, gap closure and audit-period preparation. The certification audit itself is conducted by a separate accredited body.
How much does technical due diligence cost for a software acquisition?
Independent technical due diligence is a fixed fee per deal: from $25,000 (Express, smaller targets), $35,000 (Standard, full scope) and $45,000 (Comprehensive, larger or regulated targets with an investment-committee briefing). Investors with regular deal flow can join the DD Panel at panel pricing with no retainer.
Are your fees fixed or hourly?
Fixed. Every engagement is scoped and priced in writing before work begins — no hourly billing and no scope surprises. Because CISO Advisory sells no products and takes no commissions, the fee is its entire commercial interest in the engagement.
Know the cost. Book the call.
Tell us what you need to secure and we'll confirm the fixed fee — usually the same business day. Confidential, and no obligation.
Book a scoping call