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AI Strategic Security Assessment (AISSA)
Measure your organization’s AI security program, processes, and architecture against the CIS Controls and the CIS AI Companion Guides through a structured, interview-driven assessment.
Organizations are adopting generative AI, large language models, autonomous AI agents, and Model Context Protocol (MCP) integrations faster than their security programs can keep up. These systems read sensitive data, call tools, and take action, introducing governance, process, and architecture risks that traditional security programs were never designed to address.
nGuard’s AI Strategic Security Assessment (AISSA) is a streamlined, strategic assessment of your AI-centric security program, processes, and architecture. Driven by a structured interview process, the assessment examines every key AI security control area and measures your organization’s alignment against the CIS Critical Security Controls, supplemented by the three CIS AI Companion Guides for AI/LLM, AI Agents, and MCP. The result is a clear, prioritized view of where your AI security posture stands and the actionable findings to strengthen it.
A Structured, Framework-Aligned AI Security Assessment
A Structured Interview Process
The AI Strategic Security Assessment is driven by a structured interview process led by nGuard’s experienced security consultants. Working directly with your IT and security stakeholders, we examine each key AI security control area, how AI is governed, deployed, monitored, and secured across your environment. This approach is efficient, minimizes disruption to your team, and surfaces the program- and process-level gaps that matter most as you adopt AI.
Measured Against the CIS Controls
The assessment measures your organization’s alignment against the CIS Critical Security Controls (CIS Controls), the prioritized set of cybersecurity best practices used by enterprises worldwide and mapped to frameworks including NIST CSF. Using the CIS Controls as the baseline gives you a recognized, defensible measuring stick for your security program rather than a proprietary checklist.
Extended with the CIS AI Companion Guides
Standard controls don’t fully account for how AI systems behave. The AI Strategic Security Assessment supplements the CIS Controls with the three CIS AI Companion Guides, each addressing a distinct layer of the AI stack:
- AI/LLM Companion Guide: Prompt and context handling, and exposure of sensitive data at the model layer.
- AI Agents Companion Guide: Safe tool execution, governed autonomy, and appropriate access to enterprise systems.
- MCP Companion Guide: Secure tool access, non-human identity (NHI) management, and auditable interactions across Model Context Protocol environments.
We apply the guides that match your environment so the assessment reflects how your AI is actually deployed.
Standard Audit Areas, Extended for AI
The AI Strategic Security Assessment extends the standard security audit areas to cover your specific AI use cases. Core areas examined include network security controls, system security controls, incident detection and response, logging and audit, your overall security program, and security policies, each evaluated through an AI-aware lens to confirm your existing controls hold up as AI is introduced into your environment.
What the Assessment Covers
The AI Strategic Security Assessment evaluates your AI security program across the control domains that matter most as AI enters your environment, aligned to the CIS Controls, the CIS AI Companion Guides, the NIST AI Risk Management Framework, and ISO/IEC 42001:
- Security Program & Governance: AI policies, ownership, oversight, and how AI risk is managed across its lifecycle.
- Network Security Controls: Segmentation and protections for AI systems and their connected services.
- System Security Controls: Secure configuration and hardening of the platforms hosting AI workloads.
- Incident Detection & Response: Readiness to detect and respond to AI-specific incidents such as data leakage or unintended agent actions.
- Logging & Audit: Visibility into model, agent, and MCP activity, including auditable tool use and non-human identity (NHI) tracking.
- Security Policies: Policies extended to cover generative AI, LLMs, agents, and MCP usage.
- AI/LLM, Agent & MCP Layers: The AI-specific risks addressed by the three CIS Companion Guides.
AI use cases we account for: generative AI and LLMs, AI agents (autonomous and semi-autonomous), and MCP servers and clients.
A Strategic View of Your AI Security Posture
Governance and Architecture Built for the AI Era
Strategic, Not Just Tactical
The AI Strategic Security Assessment looks beyond individual vulnerabilities to assess your AI security program, processes, and architecture as a whole, giving leadership a clear, defensible picture of organizational readiness.
Built on Recognized Frameworks
The assessment is grounded in the CIS Controls and the CIS AI Companion Guides, and informed by the NIST AI Risk Management Framework and ISO/IEC 42001, recognized standards rather than a proprietary checklist.
Interview-Driven & Efficient
A structured interview process examines all key AI security control areas while minimizing disruption to your team, making it a streamlined way to understand your posture.
Actionable Findings
nGuard delivers clear, prioritized findings and practical recommendations you can act on, so you can strengthen your AI security program with confidence.
AI Strategic Security Assessment FAQ
What is an AI Strategic Security Assessment?
An AI Strategic Security Assessment is a structured, interview-driven evaluation of an organization’s AI security program, processes, and architecture. It measures alignment against the CIS Critical Security Controls, supplemented by the CIS AI Companion Guides for AI/LLM, AI agents, and MCP environments, to identify gaps and provide prioritized, actionable findings.
How is the AI Strategic Security Assessment different from AI Penetration Testing (AIPT)?
AI Penetration Testing is hands-on, technical testing of a specific AI application to find and exploit vulnerabilities, similar to a gray-box or white-box penetration test. The AI Strategic Security Assessment is a strategic, program-level evaluation of how your organization governs and secures AI across its environment. Many organizations use both: the strategic assessment to establish the program and architecture, and penetration testing to validate individual applications.
What frameworks and standards does the AI Strategic Security Assessment use?
The AI Strategic Security Assessment is built on the CIS Controls and the three CIS AI Companion Guides (AI/LLM, AI Agents, and MCP), and is informed by the NIST AI Risk Management Framework and ISO/IEC 42001, the international standard for AI management systems.
What does the assessment cover?
Core areas include security program and governance, network security controls, system security controls, incident detection and response, logging and audit, and security policies, each extended to cover your AI use cases, plus the AI-specific risks at the LLM, agent, and MCP layers.
Who should get an AI Strategic Security Assessment?
Any organization adopting or expanding generative AI, LLMs, AI agents, or MCP integrations, particularly those that want to establish AI governance, satisfy leadership and regulatory expectations, or build a baseline before deploying AI more broadly.
How is the assessment conducted?
The AI Strategic Security Assessment is driven by a structured interview process with your IT and security stakeholders, making it efficient and low-disruption. nGuard delivers a report with findings and prioritized, actionable recommendations.
TRUSTED BY THESE BRANDS
Security Resources from nGuard
“nGuard has been a proven cybersecurity partner with us for over five years that understands our industry.”
— Joe Warling, Randolph Electric Membership Corporation
“nGuard not only does a thorough pen test, their remediation recommendations and tracking tool was a big help in addressing issues.”
— Allan Patek, Executive Director, Wisconsin Insurance Security Fund
“nGuard’s expertise in cybersecurity, their professionalism and flexibility is the reason why we hire them year after year.”
— Frank M. Furnari, Business Systems Developer, NJCRIB (New Jersey Compensation Rating & Inspection Bureau)
“The staff at nGuard are top-notch cybersecurity professionals. I find their knowledge, guidance, and expertise very helpful during our annual pen tests.”
— David Schultheis, IT Manager, Nine Network of Public Media
“nGuard’s cybersecurity and PCI expertise has been instrumental in helping us improve our cybersecurity posture.”
— Mark Krawczyk, Director of Information Privacy, Purpose Financial
“We have trusted nGuard as our primary cybersecurity consultants for 20 years. Our continued choice of and reliance on nGuard year after year is a testament to the professionalism, expertise, and exemplary service that we continue to experience.”
— Jeremy Noble, VP, Information Services, Atlantic Telephone Membership Corporation
“I have used several other large assessors in the past and I recommend nGuard above all others.”
— Scotty Westbrook, IT Director, Sampson Bladen Oil Company
“Through our long-term partnership with nGuard, we gain valuable insight from their advanced cyber-security tests.”
— Lynn Sturkie, Director of Technology Services, Lexington County
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