Sam W.

Turn Security Into Your Fastest Path to Revenue

Enterprise clients won't sign until you can prove security, privacy, and compliance. I get you there — fast, audit-ready, and without grinding your roadmap to a halt.

I'm Dr. Sam Wertheim, an Upwork Expert-Vetted (Top 1%) fractional CISO with 17+ years across DoD (Defense Innovation Unit), Fortune-scale enterprises, and federal agencies. I currently serve as fractional CISO to a NYDFS-regulated insurtech and as sitting CISO for an identity-governance platform. My doctoral research focuses on AI-driven social engineering — bringing both battle-tested compliance execution and a forward view on where threats are heading.

WHERE I CREATE VALUE

• Close enterprise deals — SOC 2, ISO 27001, PCI DSS, HIPAA, NYDFS §500, done right and audit-ready
• Secure cloud & AI products — AWS, Azure, GCP, SaaS platforms, and the new risk surface AI introduces
• Strengthen risk posture — without slowing the business down

WHY CLIENTS KEEP ME ON RETAINER

• Executive security leadership at a fraction of a full-time CISO's cost
• A practitioner, not just an advisor — I've run the pen tests, built the SIEM, filed the regulatory certifications
• Deep regulatory specialization (NYDFS §500, SOC 2, ISO 27001) most generalists can't match

WHAT CLIENTS SAY

• "The SOC 2 work let us close a Fortune 100 contract we'd been stuck on for months." — SaaS founder
• "ISO 27001 certified faster than we thought possible. It opened doors immediately." — Series-stage CTO
• "Compliance finally stopped being the thing that slowed our sales cycle." — B2B SaaS CEO

SOUND FAMILIAR?

• Drowning in security questionnaires and vendor risk reviews?
• Need to be audit-ready before your next enterprise deal closes?
• Running Vanta, Drata, or Sprinto but unsure what comes next?
• Shipping AI-driven products and unsure how to govern the risk?
• Want ongoing CISO leadership without a full-time hire?

CORE SERVICES

• Fractional / virtual CISO (vCISO) — ongoing security leadership