DSE security services start at $1,250 for a scored Security Readiness Check, run from $3,500 a month for retained vCISO leadership, and start at $40,000 fixed for a Private AI Pilot deployed inside your own cloud account. Every figure below is a published list floor. The final fee is set at a scoping call and confirmed in writing before any work starts.
Three lanes, one ladder. Assess tells you where you stand. Run gives you a senior security leader on a fraction of a hire. Private AI puts a governed AI workspace inside your AWS account and keeps it operated. Most clients start on the left and move right only when the findings warrant it.
What is fixed. vCISO Essentials is a flat monthly fee. Every other line carries a "from" price: the published floor for the smallest honest version of that engagement, one entity, one site, one environment. The floor is real; we do not quote below it.
What moves the number. Additional sites or entities, more users or AI systems in scope, an examined regulatory profile, and multi-environment deployments move a fee above its floor. The scoping call sets the final fee, in writing, before work starts. Nothing here is billed hourly. Readiness and advisory work is not certification and not legal advice.
Each Assess engagement is scoped to one entity and one site at its floor. They are advisory reviews of the evidence you already have and the controls you already run. None of them is a penetration test, and none of them certifies anything.
Fit: small and mid-sized firms, roughly 10 to 150 staff, taking a first structured look. Metro-Atlanta clients can have this done in person.
Term: one-time, fixed fee. Estimate vs fixed: $1,250 is the floor for one entity and one site; the scoping call confirms the fee in writing.
Scope a Readiness Check →Fit: 25 to 250 staff handling client financial data, PHI, or contract-sensitive data, usually under insurer, customer, or regulator questionnaire pressure.
Term: one-time, fixed fee, typically two to four weeks. Estimate vs fixed: $3,500 is the floor for the cyber component at one site; additional sites and any physical component are scoped separately.
Scope a Foundations Assessment →Fit: any firm that needs a documented, evidenced training program for insurers, clients, or a HIPAA or GLBA obligation. The floor covers up to 25 users.
Term: monthly subscription; the term and the user band above 25 are set at scoping. Estimate vs fixed: $600 a month is the floor for up to 25 users.
Scope awareness training →Physical security is never delivered by DSE. Where a client needs it, we refer to a licensed Georgia security firm and coordinate the cyber and physical findings into one roadmap; the physical work is contracted with the partner directly.
Every vCISO tier carries a six-month minimum and a one-time setup fee that covers the first-30-day baseline: risk register, policy inventory, and the evidence calendar. DSE directs the program; DSE does not operate a 24/7 SOC or MDR, and continuous monitoring, where required, runs through a vetted partner you contract.
Fit: 25 to 150 staff, no in-house security lead, building a first security program that a client or insurer will ask to see.
Term: flat $3,500 a month, six-month minimum, plus a one-time setup fee. Estimate vs fixed: the monthly fee is fixed; only the setup fee is set at scoping.
Scope vCISO Essentials →Fit: 100 to 500 staff under GLBA, HIPAA, or state privacy obligations, with AI already in use and a board or owner that wants reporting.
Term: six-month minimum plus a one-time setup fee. Estimate vs fixed: $5,500 a month is the floor for one entity; system count and regulatory surface set the final fee at scoping.
Scope vCISO Core →Fit: examined entities: banks, credit unions, RIAs and broker-dealers, insurers, healthcare systems, and defense suppliers, often multi-entity, usually 250+ staff.
Term: six-month minimum plus a one-time setup fee. Estimate vs fixed: $9,000 a month is the floor for one examined entity; entity count and examination cadence set the final fee at scoping.
Scope vCISO Regulated →Looking for AI-program-only leadership? The narrower vCISO for AI retainer is scoped separately from $6,000 a month. The tiers above run the whole security program, with AI risk inside it.
Private AI engagements deploy PrivateStack, DSE's governed AI workspace built on open-weight models, or an equivalent reference stack, inside a customer-owned AWS account and VPC under customer-managed keys. Under that Enterprise BYOC deployment, prompts, completions, retrieval documents, and audit logs remain in your VPC; control-plane metadata is the documented exception. The BYOC boundary map spells out every data path.
Fit: one high-value workflow on sensitive data, one team, one environment. The right first buy when the hosting boundary is the blocker.
Term: fixed fee, typically six to ten weeks. Estimate vs fixed: $40,000 is the floor for one environment and one workflow; the architecture review sets the final fee in writing.
Scope a Private AI Pilot →Fit: several workflows across several teams, regulated data, and a reviewer, auditor, or examiner who will ask for the control path.
Term: fixed fee, scoped to the estate. Estimate vs fixed: $75,000 is the floor for two environments and a handful of workflows; larger estates route to custom pricing.
Scope a Private AI Foundation →Fit: a private AI system already in production that needs to stay patched, tested, and evidenced without a dedicated internal team.
Term: 12-month minimum. Estimate vs fixed: $8,000 a month is the floor for one production environment; environment and workflow count set the final fee at scoping.
Scope managed operations →The product path: PrivateStack is the governed AI workspace these engagements deploy. Its Hosted and Solo tiers run on DSE-managed infrastructure and do not inherit the BYOC residency posture described here.
The floors above are honest for the smallest version of each engagement. Some work is simply bigger than the ladder, and pretending otherwise wastes a call.
A principal reads the request, replies within 24 hours with fit or not-fit, and, if it is a fit, sends a fixed-fee scope document within 48 hours of the scoping call. Enterprise work is priced to the estate, in writing, before anything starts.
Request custom pricing →Straight answers on why the numbers read "from", what moves them, and how an engagement actually gets signed.
Because the floor is the only number we can publish honestly without seeing your environment. Each "from" price is the fee for the smallest complete version of that engagement: one entity, one site, one environment. We do not quote below it, and we do not pad above it without a reason we can show you.
Four things, in roughly this order: scope units (sites, entities, environments, AI systems), regulatory profile (an examined entity needs more evidence than an unregulated one), user or workflow count for the per-month lines, and delivery constraints such as in-person requirements or a procurement vehicle. None of them is headcount for its own sake.
Yes. The scoping call produces a written scope with one fixed fee. Nothing is billed hourly. If the scope changes mid-engagement, the change is priced and agreed in writing before the work continues.
Engagement letters are issued only after our counsel-reviewed terms and errors-and-omissions coverage are in force for the scope. That is a standing gate on signing and delivery, not on scoping: you can scope, receive a fixed-fee proposal, and reserve a start window before it clears. We will tell you plainly where a given scope stands.
The engagement models page carries non-binding market-estimate ranges for the AI governance, implementation, and data catalogue. This page carries published list floors for the security service line. Where both mention private AI, this page's floors are the ones we quote from.
No to both. Physical security is referred to a licensed Georgia partner and contracted with them directly. Continuous monitoring runs through a vetted MDR or MSP partner you contract; DSE directs the program and reviews the evidence but does not operate a 24/7 SOC.