Fractional CISO / CTO · Regulated finance & digital assets
For fintechs and digital‑asset firms
The security executive your bank partner, auditor, or investor just asked for — from someone who has also run the infrastructure.
Fractional CISO / CTO · from $5,000 / mo
For banks and regulated firms
AI governance, secure cloud modernization, and on‑chain settlement strategy from an ex‑bank IT executive and CISO.
Fixed‑scope engagements · 2–4 weeks · written deliverables
Engagements
01 · Recurring
A named security executive on your org chart — the one your sponsor bank, SOC 2 auditor, or lead investor asked about — who has also run infrastructure, cloud migrations, and settlement rails. Policies and controls, diligence and questionnaire responses, vendor and architecture calls, and the monthly risk memo your board reads.
02
The diligence‑readiness sprint: what a sponsor bank's risk team will check, mapped against your posture, with a sequenced remediation list. The usual first step before a retainer.
03
Executive workshops, prioritized use cases, governance and risk framework, and a 90‑day pilot plan you can defend to a board.
04
Architecture review, zero‑trust and post‑quantum readiness, identity governance, and a phased modernization roadmap. Risk report + remediation plan.
05
Use‑case framing, custody and KYC architecture, and a vendor‑agnostic decision matrix for FIs evaluating on‑chain settlement, stablecoin rails, or tokenized assets.
Plus Scoping to Build — when the plan needs to become working software, delivered through DAPL's own engineering bench at disclosed rates.
Background
Led IT and security strategy at a multi‑billion‑dollar regional bank, including the programs examiners reviewed every cycle.
Built and ran a bank security program end to end — policy, architecture, incident response — and sat across the table from the regulator defending it.
Architected cloud and on‑chain settlement rails for a tokenization initiative that had to satisfy both engineers and compliance.
Institution names shared on a call. References available for scoped engagements.
How an engagement starts
Bring the messiest version of the problem — the bank's questionnaire, the board's question, the roadmap nobody will sign. No slides, no pitch.
Scope, deliverables, timeline, and fee on two pages. Retainers include a 90‑day plan; packaged engagements include what's out of scope, in writing.
Standard MSA and SOW, no procurement theater. For retainers, the first two weeks are the readiness sprint — you have a controls matrix before the month is out.
If a bank, an auditor, or a board just asked you a question you don't have a written answer to, that's the call. Leave with one concrete next step.