Standby response readiness. Zero upfront commitment.
A flexible incident response retainer for organizations that want guaranteed senior response capability without an upfront financial commitment. The organization invests in proactive onboarding so the team starts with context, then pays only when an incident actually occurs. 24-hour remote response activation. Full response lifecycle from identification through lessons learned.
Readiness without the upfront commitment.
Traditional incident response retainers require an upfront block of professional hours, paid whether or not an incident occurs. For organizations that have not yet built a mature breach response capability, that upfront commitment can be hard to justify against competing security priorities. The result is that many organizations end up with no retainer at all, and discover at the moment of an incident that they have no relationship in place, no onboarded context, and no guaranteed response time.
The Zero Dollar Incident Response Retainer is designed to remove that friction. There is no upfront retainer fee. The organization pays only based on the actual consumption of incident response resources in the event of an incident. What the engagement provides upfront is the relationship: a proactive two-hour onboarding workshop to map assets and stakeholders, exchange contact details, and ensure the response team starts with context the moment an incident is declared. The 24-hour remote response activation is guaranteed from that point forward.
When an incident occurs, the engagement covers the full response lifecycle: identification and triage, short-term and long-term containment, investigation and forensic analysis, eradication, recovery, communications, documentation, and lessons learned. Methodology is framework-agnostic, informed by leading incident response standards. The same senior team that conducts the onboarding workshop is the team that responds when an event occurs, eliminating the cold-start problem that plagues organizations engaging incident response from scratch under pressure.
No retainer at all vs. a relationship in place when it counts.
Most organizations recognize the value of an incident response retainer in principle. In practice, the upfront block-hour commitment competes with other security priorities and frequently loses. The Zero Dollar Retainer is built to close that gap.
An incident arrives, the organization has no relationship in place, and the first call is a cold start.
The breach is detected on a Friday evening. Internal IT pages the CISO. The CISO pages the General Counsel. The General Counsel asks who handles incident response. There is no answer. A search begins for firms accepting emergency engagements. Each firm asks for environment details, stakeholder identification, and access provisioning. Hours pass while context is built from scratch under pressure. The first technical response begins long after the incident did. By the time meaningful containment starts, the attacker has had unmonitored time to escalate the impact.
A retainer relationship in place, onboarded context, guaranteed activation, paid only on consumption.
The retainer is signed before any incident occurs. The two-hour onboarding workshop maps assets and stakeholders, exchanges contact details, and establishes the communication channels the response team will use. The 24-hour remote response activation is guaranteed for the twelve-month term. There is no upfront block-hour fee. When the incident arrives, the team starts with context. When the engagement closes, the organization pays only for the hours actually consumed. The relationship is in place when it counts, and the financial commitment matches the actual need.
What the engagement covers.
Nine integrated capabilities across the proactive onboarding and the reactive incident response lifecycle. The same senior team handles both, eliminating the cold-start problem that defines emergency engagements without a pre-established relationship.
Proactive Onboarding Workshop
Two-hour workshop to map assets (networks, computes, servers, mobile devices, cloud environment, business applications, SaaS platforms), identify key stakeholders, exchange contact details, and review safeguarding guidance.
Asset & Stakeholder Inventory
Documented inventory of environment, business-critical systems, key personnel, escalation paths, and communication channels, ready for activation the moment an incident is declared.
24-Hour Remote Response Activation
Guaranteed comprehensive remote response from the senior team within 24 hours of incident declaration. Critical first steps toward identification and containment taken promptly with onboarded context.
Best-Effort On-Site Response
For incidents requiring physical presence, on-site response is mobilized on a best-effort basis. Travel and on-site expenses covered by the client, customized to each situation.
Incident Identification & Triage
Review of alerts, logs, and notifications to confirm the incident. Verification of indicators of compromise. Classification by nature and severity to prioritize response and allocate resources.
Containment, Eradication & Recovery
Short-term and long-term containment, removal of malicious software, closure of exploited vulnerabilities, and recovery support with integrity verification and post-recovery monitoring.
Investigation & Forensic Analysis
Forensic examination of affected systems to understand attack vectors, methods, and scope. Root cause analysis. Evidence preservation to support legal, regulatory, and insurance reporting.
Communications Coordination
Internal stakeholder updates for management, IT, and legal teams. External notification coordination for customers, partners, regulators, and the public where applicable.
Documentation & Lessons Learned
Comprehensive post-incident report covering timeline, actions taken, lessons learned, and recommendations for improvements to policies, procedures, and controls.
Who this retainer serves.
Built for organizations that want guaranteed senior response capability with proactive onboarding, but cannot or will not commit to an upfront block-hour fee. The financial model matches the actual need.
Growth-Stage & Mid-Market Organizations
Companies that need a pre-established response relationship and onboarded context but have not yet built the security budget to justify an upfront retainer fee.
Organizations Without an Existing IR Relationship
Companies whose current incident response posture is "call someone if it happens," who recognize the cold-start risk and want a relationship in place without the financial commitment.
Cyber Insurance Policyholders
Organizations whose cyber insurance carrier expects a documented incident response relationship in place but where the carrier or counsel allows flexibility on the commercial model.
Boards & Executives Driving Risk Posture
Organizations where leadership has identified incident response readiness as a priority and wants the relationship in place even when the security budget is allocated elsewhere.
How the engagement works.
Six structured phases across the lifetime of the retainer. The first two phases run upfront during onboarding. Phases three through six run during and after an actual incident.
Retainer Activation
Signing of the twelve-month retainer agreement. Establishment of the relationship without upfront block-hour commitment. Confirmation of the agreed hourly rates that will apply if and when an incident occurs.
Onboarding Workshop
Two-hour workshop to map assets, identify key stakeholders, exchange contact details, establish communication channels, and review safeguarding guidance. The team starts with context, not a blank page.
Standby Readiness
For the duration of the twelve-month term, the retainer relationship is in place. The organization has the guaranteed 24-hour remote response activation available on demand if an incident occurs.
Incident Activation & Response
When an incident is declared, the senior response team activates within 24 hours with the onboarded context already in hand. Full response lifecycle executes: identification, containment, investigation, eradication, recovery.
Communications & Coordination
Internal and external communications coordinated during the active response. Coordination with breach counsel, cyber insurance carrier, and other workstreams as the engagement requires.
Documentation & Lessons Learned
Final post-incident report covering timeline, actions, decisions, and recommendations. Post-incident review with stakeholders. Policy, procedure, and IR plan updates based on insights gained.
What the organization walks away with.
Nine integrated deliverables across the retainer lifetime. The first two are produced upfront during onboarding. The remaining seven are produced if and when an incident actually occurs.
Signed Retainer Agreement
Twelve-month retainer agreement establishing the relationship, the guaranteed 24-hour response activation, and the hourly rates that will apply to actual incident consumption.
Onboarded Asset & Stakeholder Inventory
Documented inventory of environment, business-critical systems, key personnel, escalation paths, and communication channels produced during the two-hour onboarding workshop.
24-Hour Remote Response Activation
On declaration of an incident, confirmation of response activation with the assigned response lead, communication channel, and initial action plan ready for immediate execution by the joint team.
Incident Triage & Classification Report
Initial triage report documenting the incident type, severity, indicators of compromise, affected scope, and the response priorities allocated against them.
Containment, Eradication & Recovery Log
Documented execution log covering short-term and long-term containment actions, eradication of malicious software and exploited vulnerabilities, and recovery support with integrity verification.
Situational Awareness Briefings
Real-time briefings during the active incident to keep key stakeholders informed about the evolving situation, response actions, and business impact decisions pending leadership input.
Investigation & Forensic Reports
Forensic reports outlining analysis of affected systems, data, and logs. Documentation of how the incident occurred, the scope of compromise, and the tactics used by the attacker.
Post-Incident Report
Comprehensive post-incident report covering the incident, response actions, lessons learned, and recommendations for improvements to policies, procedures, and controls.
Customized Playbooks & Runbooks
Where the engagement scope and consumed hours allow, customized incident response playbooks and runbooks for specific incident types are produced for use beyond the active incident.
The numbers behind the work.
Founded by military intelligence veterans with senior advisors from PwC, KPMG, Deloitte, EY, and Mandiant. The track record reflects the discipline.
Clients Served
Organizations across finance, healthcare, technology, energy, legal, and government trust Armour Cybersecurity to protect what matters.
Client Retention Rate
Long-term engagements built on consistent quality, predictable delivery, and consulting relationships that compound in value over time.
Industries · Worldwide Reach
Cross-sector experience spanning every major regulated industry, with operations supporting clients across North America, Latin America, and beyond.
Cybersecurity Technology Solutions
A vetted catalogue of technology partnerships and proprietary methods deployed in support of incident response, forensic investigation, and post-incident recovery for retainer clients.
Lock in standby readiness. Pay only when an incident occurs.
Schedule a discovery call to scope the retainer. Protecting What Matters starts with the relationship in place before the breach.
Book Discovery CallFrequently asked questions.
Common questions from CISOs, CFOs, General Counsel, and risk leaders evaluating a Zero Dollar IR Retainer.
Is this really a zero dollar retainer? What are the actual costs?
How is this different from your standard Breach Response retainer?
What happens during the two-hour onboarding workshop?
What is the 24-hour response activation guarantee?
What types of incidents are covered?
Does this satisfy our cyber insurance carrier requirement for an IR relationship?
What happens if no incident occurs during the twelve-month term?
Get the relationship in place.
Reach out to scope a Zero Dollar Incident Response Retainer. Discovery calls are scheduled within two business days. Onboarding workshops are typically scheduled within two weeks of agreement signing.
Talk to Armour Cybersecurity.
Toronto, ON, Canada
Request a discovery call.
Tell us about your organization, current incident response posture, and what is driving the retainer interest. A senior advisor will respond within two business days.