Cybersecurity for Startup -- 2
Budget: $250 – $750 USD
Bird Dog Analytics is an early-stage startup (team <3 people) building real-estate analytics applications. We want to implement a complete cybersecurity foundation on a startup-friendly budget — protecting laptops, accounts, files, code repositories, web infrastructure, and data access from day one.
We’re looking for a cybersecurity expert / fractional CISO / security engineer to architect and implement a modern, cost-efficient, low-friction security program using current best practices, preferably leveraging tools that are free/affordable for small teams (Apple Mac laptop PC’s /, GitHub, 1Password, Cloudflare, etc.).
Scope of work (initial engagement):
Device security & hardening for company laptops
(disk encryption, MDM / remote wipe, OS security baselines, patch policy)
Identity & access management
(SSO where possible, enforce MFA, password manager rollout)
Email security + phishing protection
(DKIM / SPF / DMARC, anti-phishing rules, sandboxing / link scanning recommendations)
GitHub / code security
(branch protection rules, secret scanning, automated dependency scanning)
Network security baseline
(DNS filtering, firewall policy, VPN or ZTNA recommendation)
Cloud server / API / infra hardening
(secure default configs, least-privilege IAM, credential rotation plan)
Incident-response / recovery basics
(playbooks, backup/restore, post-breach steps)
Document simple controls + policies we can operate with 2–3 people
(1–3 pages each: access control, password, device usage, data retention)
Goals:
Highly secure for a team our size
Maintainable with minimal overhead
Very low cost (optimize open-source, free tiers, or bundled services)
Fully documented / repeatable for onboarding future hires
Deliverables will include:
• recommended architecture (tools + vendors)
• configurations implemented hands-on where possible
• short operations guide for the founding team
• a prioritized roadmap for “phase 2” enhancements as we scale
We’re looking for a cybersecurity expert / fractional CISO / security engineer to architect and implement a modern, cost-efficient, low-friction security program using current best practices, preferably leveraging tools that are free/affordable for small teams (Apple Mac laptop PC’s /, GitHub, 1Password, Cloudflare, etc.).
Scope of work (initial engagement):
Device security & hardening for company laptops
(disk encryption, MDM / remote wipe, OS security baselines, patch policy)
Identity & access management
(SSO where possible, enforce MFA, password manager rollout)
Email security + phishing protection
(DKIM / SPF / DMARC, anti-phishing rules, sandboxing / link scanning recommendations)
GitHub / code security
(branch protection rules, secret scanning, automated dependency scanning)
Network security baseline
(DNS filtering, firewall policy, VPN or ZTNA recommendation)
Cloud server / API / infra hardening
(secure default configs, least-privilege IAM, credential rotation plan)
Incident-response / recovery basics
(playbooks, backup/restore, post-breach steps)
Document simple controls + policies we can operate with 2–3 people
(1–3 pages each: access control, password, device usage, data retention)
Goals:
Highly secure for a team our size
Maintainable with minimal overhead
Very low cost (optimize open-source, free tiers, or bundled services)
Fully documented / repeatable for onboarding future hires
Deliverables will include:
• recommended architecture (tools + vendors)
• configurations implemented hands-on where possible
• short operations guide for the founding team
• a prioritized roadmap for “phase 2” enhancements as we scale