Best vCISO Providers in Dallas (2026)

Most pages that rank for this search are national roundups or one firm’s own sales page. A few come from firms in other states that have a Dallas page and no Dallas office. We wanted a list a Dallas owner could check line by line. So we built one. The arithmetic is all here.

Uprite Services wrote this page, and we sell vCISO work from our office on Alpha Road in North Dallas. That makes us a party to the result. We used the same criteria as our Houston and San Antonio lists, and we applied the same rubric to every firm. We came fifth. The main reason is simple. Our Dallas Google listing has no reviews yet. Google reviews are one of the seven criteria.

Competitor facts come from two places. One is each firm’s own site, pulled through Apify on November 13, 2026. The other is a Google Maps scrape run that same afternoon. We asked no firm for information. None of them paid to appear.

What a Dallas Company Is Buying When It Hires a vCISO

A vCISO is a part-time security executive. Most work for a provider. The job is to decide what the security program covers, write it down, check that it is running, and report on it to the people who own the risk. Tools sit underneath. The vCISO answers for them.

Hiring that person full time is hard here. Supply is tight. The Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey for May 2025 counts 7,080 information security analysts in the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington metro, with a mean salary of $133,790. It counts 30,690 computer and information systems managers, with a mean of $185,720. Most of them work for banks, insurers, airlines, hospital systems and the defense plants. Those employers pay well. A 90-person distributor in Carrollton is competing with all of them for the same résumés, and it usually can’t match the salary, the title or the team that a large employer offers a security hire.

Three federal rules make someone accountable anyway. Hiring is optional. Accountability isn’t. The FTC’s Safeguards Rule at 16 CFR 314.4 applies to non-bank financial businesses, which in Dallas means car dealers, mortgage brokers, tax preparers, wealth managers and plenty of small lenders. Each one must designate a Qualified Individual to oversee its information security program and report to its board or owner in writing at least once a year. Medical practices have a similar duty. The HIPAA Security Rule at 45 CFR 164.308 requires every covered entity and business associate to identify a security official.

Defense work is the third. It is big here. CMMC reached Defense Department contracts through a DFARS rule dated November 10, 2025. The supplier base around the Lockheed Martin plant in Fort Worth, the Bell plants and the aerospace shops in Grand Prairie and Arlington is large, and a subcontractor holding Controlled Unclassified Information is expected to keep a NIST SP 800-171 program with a current score in the Supplier Performance Risk System. Somebody has to own that score. Someone also keeps the evidence.

Texas adds its own reason. Senate Bill 2610 has been law since September 1, 2025. A Texas business with fewer than 250 employees that is sued after a breach can’t be hit with exemplary damages if it kept a written cybersecurity program at the tier set for its size. Tiers depend on headcount. A company with 20 to 99 employees needs at least CIS Controls Implementation Group 1. A company with 100 to 249 employees needs a program built on a recognized framework such as the NIST Cybersecurity Framework. Nothing in it is mandatory. It rewards companies that did the work before the breach.

There is also a deadline. It is short. Once a breach reaches 250 Texans or more, the Texas Attorney General must hear about it within 30 days. A company that already knows where its sensitive data lives can usually meet that. One that has never mapped it will have trouble.

How We Scored Dallas vCISO Providers

We scored each firm from 0 to 10 on seven criteria, using only what a buyer could check for themselves. No firm saw its score first. That meant the firm’s own vCISO page, its About and location pages, and its Google listings in the Dallas-Fort Worth metro. We call the weighted total the Security Seat Score.

Two gates came first. A firm needed a page on its own website about a vCISO or fractional CISO service. A short mention in a list of services didn’t count. A firm also needed a confirmed tie to the metro. That meant a street address in Dallas-Fort Worth on its site or on a Google listing, or a Dallas-Fort Worth page with a local phone number. Seven firms passed both.

Google reviews hurt us most. We count only listings inside the metro. Ours has no reviews. So we score zero there. Our three other Texas listings hold 123 reviews, ranging from 4.3 stars on our Southeast Houston listing to 4.9 in San Antonio. A Dallas buyer won’t see those on a Dallas search, so we left them out. If you count every Texas listing for every firm, we move up to third at 7.55. GXA and DKBinnovative stay ahead either way.

Named-role coverage helps us. Uprite, DKBinnovative and LayerLogix are the three firms that address either SB 2610 or the Qualified Individual role in writing. LayerLogix is the only one that offers to take the Qualified Individual and HIPAA security officer titles itself. We don’t. That cost us three points.

Dallas vCISO Providers Compared

The 7 Best vCISO Providers in Dallas (2026)

1. GXA, the most complete vCISO offer in the metro

GXA is a managed IT and security firm. It is headquartered at 269 West Renner Road in Richardson, with a second office on Warren Parkway in Frisco. Its Richardson listing shows 4.9 stars across 135 Google reviews. Frisco shows 5.0 across 27. Its Dallas page says it has served the area for 21 years, and it lists a 15-minute average response time and a dedicated vCIO, virtual IT manager and vCISO on every engagement.

Its vCISO page was the most detailed one we read. GXA sells two tiers under its gShield brand. Its Basic tier covers a GRC platform, written policies, incident response playbooks with an annual tabletop exercise, and a quarterly information security review. A Compliance tier adds program leadership for HIPAA, SOC 2, PCI DSS, CMMC, NIST SP 800-171, ISO 27001 and GDPR, run in Vanta or SecureFrame.

• Deliverables are listed one by one, from a 12-month roadmap and a written information security program to vendor risk reviews, user access reviews and oversight of penetration tests.
• GXA says most engagements start within two weeks of signing. Week one is discovery, and week two produces a baseline risk assessment and a 90-day plan.
• GXA has passed a SOC 2 Type II audit and carries ISO 9001 certification. CEO George Makaye leads the security practice. He is a CISSP.
• A 24/7 security operations center runs gShield managed detection and response under the vCISO.

GXA calls that trio a pod. The setup helps a company that needs one plan for both the IT budget and the security program.

Two things held GXA back. The pages we read don’t mention SB 2610, and GXA doesn’t offer to be anyone’s Qualified Individual or HIPAA security official. No price is posted. Its page says GXA serves companies of 20 to 500 employees and offers a no-obligation 30-minute discovery call, so you can ask for a number early and compare it with the other firms on this list.

GXA ranks first because it scores well almost everywhere. It leads on vCISO depth, DFW presence and tenure, and it places near the top on reviews and execution, the two criteria where the other DFW-headquartered firms on this list also do well. Remove any single criterion and GXA still comes first. We tried all seven.

2. DKBinnovative, three DFW offices and the most reviews

Keith Barthold founded DKBinnovative in 2004. Its headquarters is at 1701 Legacy Drive in Frisco, with offices on Preston Road in Plano and on State Highway 161 in Las Colinas. Those three Google listings total 188 reviews. That is the most here. Frisco alone shows 4.9 stars across 153.

Its vCISO page targets investment firms. It names SEC and FINRA rules, GLBA, HIPAA and PCI DSS. It also names Texas SB 2610 and says DKBinnovative is one of the few DFW providers helping clients qualify for the safe harbor. Programs are built on NIST CSF, CIS Controls or ISO 27001, and DKBinnovative describes four phases that end with an audit-ready program within 90 days, followed by governance reviews every quarter after that. A separate page covers vCISO work for family offices, with callback checks on every wire and a tabletop exercise built around payment fraud.

DKBinnovative also publishes operating numbers. Few providers do. Its About page lists 2,632 users at 55 client companies, an average client tenure of 4.5 years, a 3-minute average first response and a 24/7 help desk. It lists MSP 501 and Inc. 5000 recognition.

One detail stood out. The vCISO page lists 30 days to the first risk assessment in one spot and 14 days in its comparison table, and a buyer who needs that first assessment before an insurance renewal or an audit date should know which number the contract will hold. Ask which one applies.

CMMC isn’t named on the page. Neither is NIST SP 800-171. A defense subcontractor should ask directly. DKBinnovative doesn’t offer to act as a Qualified Individual. We found no SOC 2 report for the firm itself and no posted price. A financial advisory firm in Uptown or Legacy West that wants a local team and SEC fluency should put DKBinnovative on its first call list.

3. Kehr Technologies, a Plano shop with flat monthly rates

Bob Kehr started Kehr Technologies in 2003. It is still based in Plano. Its Google listing at 5340 Legacy Drive shows 4.4 stars across 16 reviews. Kehr was named the Plano Chamber of Commerce Small Business Person of the Year in 2022 and was elected to the Plano City Council in 2025, according to the firm’s About page.

Kehr’s vCISO page is plainly written. It offers part-time, project or on-call work, and it covers roadmaps, written policies, risk assessments, controls testing, gap analysis, audit preparation and reporting to leadership and the board, with work done remotely or on site anywhere in Dallas-Fort Worth. It names HIPAA, PCI DSS, CMMC, GDPR and CCPA. That is five frameworks. It also mentions help with vendor reviews and cyber insurance options. Its cybersecurity page describes 24/7 monitoring, managed detection and response, and a team that contains incidents directly.

Kehr says it bills simple flat monthly rates with no long-term contracts. That is a fair promise. No figure appears, though. Neither does a meeting cadence or an hour count, so we couldn’t give credit for either.

Its 4.4 rating is the lowest of the seven. Sixteen reviews is a small sample. One bad review moves it a lot. We found no mention of SB 2610. The Qualified Individual role isn’t mentioned either. Kehr fits a smaller Plano or Allen company that wants a local owner it can call and a contract it can leave.

4. Custom Information Services, in DFW since 1989

Custom Information Services, usually shortened to CustomIS, has done IT work in Texas since 1989, the longest run on this list. Home base is 1201 North Watson Road in Arlington. Google shows 4.9 stars there from 19 reviews. It has a Dallas phone line. Its vCISO page is written for Dallas County, down to neighborhood names like Oak Lawn and Red Bird.

CustomIS covers security strategy, risk management, compliance with HIPAA, GDPR, CMMC and NIST, policy development, vendor risk assessments, awareness training and reporting to the board or the C-suite, either beside an internal IT team or as the whole security program. A free call is offered. Support runs 24/7.

Three things lowered its score. Its vCISO oversees the incident response plan but isn’t described as leading a response. We found no security monitoring service on the pages we read. There is no price. There is no hour count. No audit report of its own turned up in our search. CustomIS is a sensible call for a Tarrant County company that values a provider with nearly four decades in the region and already has its own monitoring in place or plans to buy it from someone else.

5. Uprite Services, the program and the controls under one contract

We are a managed IT and cybersecurity company, in Texas since 1999, with our Dallas office at 5757 Alpha Road, Suite 530. We sell vCISO work inside a managed plan. Your vCISO writes the program and the incident response plan, and our own engineers run the monitoring, patching and backups that the program depends on. When the vCISO asks for a control, the people who build it work for the same company and file the proof in the same place, so the evidence an auditor or insurer asks for already sits next to the program it supports.

• We check each program against the SB 2610 tier for your headcount.
• Our CMMC compliance in Dallas page covers NIST SP 800-171 scoring and the evidence an assessor asks for, and it offers a free gap assessment.
• Our managed security services in Dallas run a 24/7 security operations center.
• Plan rates are public. Security-only coverage starts at $40 per user per month, co-managed IT at $100 and fully managed IT at $138.
• Every agreement carries a 120-day satisfaction guarantee, and our average response time is 5 minutes.

Here is what cost us. Our Dallas Google listing has zero reviews. We scored zero on that criterion. That listing also still shows an older address on LBJ Freeway, which needs updating. We price vCISO work after a scoping review. No vCISO price is posted. No hour count is posted either. We don’t act as anyone’s Qualified Individual or HIPAA security official, because we think that title belongs with an employee. We support that person and keep the records. Our SOC 2 report is a Type 1 from 2023. GXA’s is a Type II.

We scored our incident role strictly. Our vCISO writes the plan and our security team handles containment. That is plan-level credit, so we took 1 point of 3. LayerLogix and Topping both say their vCISO leads during a live incident, and they got full credit.

One conflict deserves a mention. Hire us for both jobs and our vCISO ends up grading our own engineers. We handle that by sending the written report to ownership rather than to IT, and by keeping evidence a third party can read. Some boards still prefer an outside reviewer. That is reasonable.

We fit best with a Dallas-Fort Worth company of 25 to 250 people that wants one contract for the security program and the controls under it. That includes a defense supplier working toward a CMMC assessment, a medical group with an overdue HIPAA risk analysis, or a 120-person firm that wants the SB 2610 protection in place before its next insurance renewal.

6. LayerLogix, the firm that will hold the named role

LayerLogix is headquartered on Timberloch Place in The Woodlands, north of Houston, where its Google listing shows 5.0 stars across 30 reviews. Its Dallas-area Google listing is a suite on LBJ Freeway in Irving. It has no reviews. The website’s contact page lists Houston only, and its Dallas pages carry a toll-free number.

On paper, its vCISO service goes furthest. LayerLogix offers in writing to serve as your FTC Safeguards Rule Qualified Individual and your HIPAA Security Officer. It describes its vCISO as the incident commander who coordinates forensics, counsel, the insurer and regulators during an event, which is the strongest incident role any firm on this list put in writing. Its FAQ puts a typical small-business engagement at 10 to 40 hours a month, and 60 to 120 during a program build. Nobody else gives hours. It also lists a quarterly roadmap, a risk register, quarterly board reporting and help with insurance questionnaires across SOC 2, HIPAA, the Safeguards Rule, CMMC, NIST SP 800-171 and PCI DSS.

The local record is thin. Its Irving listing has no reviews, which zeroed the Google criterion. Its vCISO page is written for Houston and names Dallas only in a list of areas served. We found no posted price and no SOC 2 report for the firm itself, only a claim that its practices are SOC 2 aligned. If your lender or auditor wants an outside party to hold the Qualified Individual title, LayerLogix is the firm to call, since none of the other six firms on this list offers to put that title in a contract. Ask who would hold it. Ask where that person works.

7. Topping Technologies, a vCISO who leads during incidents

Topping Technologies says it is headquartered in Plano. It has served North Texas since 2017. It is a certified minority-owned business, which matters to buyers with supplier diversity goals. Its phone number has a 940 area code, which covers Denton County.

Topping’s vCISO page is labeled for Dallas-Fort Worth. It lists a security strategy and roadmap, a risk register, compliance oversight for HIPAA, PCI DSS, SOC 2, NIST SP 800-171 and Texas DIR requirements, policy and governance work, board reporting, vendor risk, and leadership during incidents. Engagements start with a free 30-minute scope review. Topping publishes a service level agreement with response targets, credit-back terms and a quarterly report on how it performed, which is more than most firms here commit to before a contract is signed. One case study describes a client earning SOC 2, and another describes a Dallas wealth management firm reaching SOC 2 readiness.

Topping ranks last. The reasons are visible. We couldn’t find a street address on its site or any Google listing under its name, so it scored zero on reviews and lost the address points. Topping is also the youngest firm here, at nine years. Topping is worth a call for a company that sells to the State of Texas and needs someone who knows the DIR requirements. Ask to meet the person who would lead your account.

What Happens When You Change the Weights

Weights are a judgment call. So we re-ran the scores under other weightings and printed what happened, including the ones where we do better and the ones where we do worse. Ten re-runs follow.

We also ran 10,000 random sets of weights. GXA came first in 9,076 of them, DKBinnovative in 439, LayerLogix in 295 and Uprite in 187. GXA’s lead holds up.

A skeptic should study the page-only row. It ignores reviews, offices and tenure, and it scores only the promises each firm makes on its own vCISO page, which is what a buyer would hold the firm to after signing. LayerLogix wins it because it offers the named role and leads incidents. If a contract that names your security officer matters more to you than a local office, that row is your ranking.

We ran one more check. If our Dallas listing had the same record as our San Antonio listing, 4.9 stars across 43 reviews, our score would be 7.53. That would still put us third, behind GXA and DKBinnovative.

Dallas Firms We Checked and Left Off

Several firms came up for vCISO searches in Dallas and failed one of the two gates. Fractional CISO has a Dallas page, but its own page calls it a Boston company. BeachFleischman, an accounting firm, sells vCISO services in Dallas through a partner called Silent Sector, and we found no Dallas office. Xero Trust Security and Mindcore both publish Dallas city pages, but neither page gave a Dallas street address or a local phone number that we could confirm, so both failed the local gate. CMIT Solutions of Dallas mentions vCISO advisors in a paragraph on its IT guidance page, which didn’t meet our page test.

We also read the sitemaps of eight well-known DFW IT firms. Cloudavize, Ighty, Sagiss, CTG Tech, ITECS, Integrated365, Quantum IT Group and Flair Data Systems showed no vCISO or fractional CISO page. Integris has several blog posts on fractional CISOs, and GuideIT in Plano has written about the role for hospitals, but neither had a service page we could score. Some of these firms may still do the work under another name. Ask them.

Choosing a vCISO Provider in Dallas

Start by deciding who will hold the named security role at your company, an employee or the provider, because that one choice narrows this list faster than price, location or review counts ever will. If the provider must hold it, LayerLogix is the only firm here that offers. If an employee will hold it, any of the top five can support that person.

Most Dallas-Fort Worth buyers fit one of these groups.

• Machine shops and electronics suppliers feeding the Fort Worth and Grand Prairie plants carry DFARS clauses. They must keep a NIST SP 800-171 program, post their self-score to SPRS and hold proof an assessor will accept. Every firm here except DKBinnovative names CMMC or NIST SP 800-171 on its vCISO page.
• A wealth manager, CPA firm or lender needs a Qualified Individual and a yearly written report to its owners, and DKBinnovative writes more directly for that group than anyone else on this list.
• Clinics around the Southwestern Medical District and dental groups in Plano answer to HIPAA. Each needs its security official named and its risk analysis kept current.
• A company of 100 to 249 people with no regulator may simply want the SB 2610 safe harbor in place. If you aren’t sure you need a vCISO yet, read whether a Dallas small business needs a vCISO before you take calls.

Then compare the paperwork. Get it in writing. Ask each firm for these five things.

• The name and credentials of the person who would be your vCISO
• The hours or meetings included each month
• Whether that person will take a named role, and where the contract says so
• Who builds the controls the vCISO recommends, and what evidence you will get
• The price in year two

Budget is the hard part. None of the seven firms posts a vCISO price. A useful ceiling is the BLS mean salary for an IT manager in the metro, which was $185,720 in May 2025 before benefits, payroll taxes, recruiting fees or the months it takes to fill the seat. A part-time vCISO buys a slice of that role, and our guide to vCISO cost in Dallas breaks a retainer into its parts. Our cybersecurity cost in Dallas guide covers the tools that sit underneath. If an insurer is the one asking questions, our cyber insurance readiness in Dallas-Fort Worth page lists the controls carriers check.

Before you sign, ask for a sample board report with the client’s name removed. Experienced providers keep one ready.

Our Verdict

GXA earns first place. It has the most complete vCISO page, its own SOC 2 Type II report, a CISSP leading the practice and a strong Google record from two DFW offices. DKBinnovative is a close second and has the largest local review record, plus the clearest focus on investment firms and SB 2610.

We placed fifth. Reviews were the main reason. We would still be the right call for a company that wants the security program and the controls under it on one contract, especially for CMMC or SB 2610 work. Want an outside firm to hold the Qualified Individual title? Call LayerLogix. Want a Plano owner and flat monthly billing? Call Kehr.

Questions Dallas Buyers Ask About vCISO Providers

Who is the best vCISO provider in Dallas?

How much does a vCISO cost in Dallas?

Can an outside vCISO be our Safeguards Rule Qualified Individual?

Do Dallas-Fort Worth defense suppliers need a vCISO for CMMC?

Does Texas SB 2610 apply to my company?

Why does Uprite rank fifth on its own list?