Independent Cybersecurity Advisory. No Contract Required.
Trust, yet verify. Whether you run IT in-house or work with another provider, HD Tech's Cybersecurity Consulting gives you a named expert's independent read on where you actually stand — risk assessments, compliance roadmaps, and incident response planning, billed at $225/hour. Delivered remotely, available to businesses nationwide.
What's Included in Cybersecurity Consulting
Advisory work, scoped up front, delivered by named experts — not a junior technician working off a checklist.
Risk Assessment & Gap Analysis
A structured review of your security posture against a named framework (NIST CSF, CIS Controls, HIPAA, CMMC), including password, passkey, and MFA posture — one of the first things attackers and auditors both check.
Vendor & Third-Party Risk Review
Assess the security posture of the vendors and partners who touch your data — the weak link in a lot of otherwise well-defended businesses.
M&A Cybersecurity Due Diligence
Independent security review of a company you're acquiring or merging with, before the deal closes — not after you've inherited its problems.
Cyber Insurance Readiness Review
We translate your insurer's application into plain English, gap-check your actual posture against it, and tell you where you'd fail a claim review.
Compliance Roadmap & Policy Development
A gap-to-remediation plan for the framework you need, plus the policies auditors actually ask for — acceptable use, incident response, data handling, password and passkey/MFA standards, and BYOD.
Board & Executive Reporting
Your security posture translated into a one-page briefing a non-technical board or ownership group can actually act on.
Incident Response Planning & Tabletop Exercises
Build the plan before you need it, then run your team through it. Includes post-incident root-cause review after an event has already been resolved.
Fractional CISO-Style Advisory Hours
A named security advisor on scoped hours — for businesses that want expert-level counsel without a $6K+/month retainer commitment.
Advisory vs. Managed — Know What You're Buying
Cybersecurity Consulting and our HQ Complete and HQ Essentials packages solve different problems. HQ Complete and HQ Essentials are hands-on — we're in your environment, actively monitoring, patching, and fixing things. Cybersecurity Consulting is advisory-only — we assess, plan, and advise, but we don't touch your systems. If you already have HQ Essentials or HQ Complete, cybersecurity consulting is already part of what you pay for.
| What's Covered | HQ Complete / Essentials | Cybersecurity Consulting |
|---|---|---|
| Endpoint monitoring | ||
| Installing or configuring security tools | ||
| Active remediation (fixing what we find) | ||
| Ongoing monitoring & alerting | ||
| Active incident response (breach in progress) | ||
| Risk assessments & gap analysis | ||
| Compliance roadmap & policy development | ||
| Board & executive reporting | ||
| Incident response planning & tabletop exercises | ||
| Vendor & third-party risk review | ||
| Fractional CISO-style advisory hours | ||
| Billing | Flat monthly rate, per user | $225/hr, engagement-based |
Cybersecurity Consulting explicitly does not include:
- Hands-on remediation or tool deployment
- Ongoing monitoring
- Active incident response — if you're being breached right now, that's an emergency engagement, not advisory
- Open-ended on-call support — every engagement has a defined scope
Cybersecurity Consulting FAQs
I'm already on HQ Essentials or HQ Complete — do I need this too?
No. Cybersecurity consulting is already included in those packages. This standalone offering is for businesses that aren't on one of our managed plans — an in-house team, a different provider, or no formal IT partner at all — who want an independent expert's read on where they stand.
Can you actually fix what you find during a consulting engagement?
Not under this engagement. We'll tell you exactly what's wrong and how to fix it — plainly, with a prioritized plan. If you want us to also do the fixing, that becomes a project quote or a conversation about HQ Essentials or HQ Complete.
What if you find something urgent, like an active breach?
We'll tell you immediately. Active incident response is a separate, urgent engagement — not something we fold into a standing advisory scope.
Do you work with businesses outside California?
Yes. Cybersecurity Consulting is delivered remotely and offered nationwide — assessments, compliance advisory, and board reporting don't require us on-site. Our managed IT packages remain focused on Southern California; this advisory offering is not geographically limited.
How is this priced?
$225/hour, billed for scoped engagements. Every engagement starts with a signed scope letter defining what's covered before any billable work begins.
Who actually does the work?
Tom and Paul are the named advisors on every Cybersecurity Consulting engagement — you're getting their direct judgment, not a hand-off to a junior technician.
Need Hands-On Protection Instead?
If you need us actively monitoring, remediating, and managing your environment — not just advising on it — our Watch Tower and HQ Complete packages include cybersecurity consulting as part of a fully managed, flat-rate plan. If an incident is happening right now, go straight to cyber incident response instead of scheduling an advisory engagement.
Get an Independent Read on Your Security
Talk to Tom and Paul about what a Cybersecurity Consulting engagement would look like for your business — wherever you are.
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