Black Shard

We build, ship, and secure software.

Two practices, one team. The engineers who build the software are the same people who attack it, so weaknesses surface early and every finding lands as an engineering fix.

The range runs from brand and product builds through AI, automation, cloud, and operations to red teams, breach remediation, a standing vCISO seat, and audit-ready compliance.

Another way to read the same services

Before, during, and after an incident.

Before

Know where you stand, and harden it.

Between

Standing eyes on your posture and your surface.

After

Contain it, fix what let it in, prove it closed.

If it is not on this page, ask anyway.

These are the engagements we run most, not the limits of the firm. The businesses we build for needed brand identities, editorial sites, deal-flow tooling, speech and OCR pipelines, outreach engines, and compliance portals, so we built those too. If it involves building, running, or securing technology, bring it to a director and you will get a straight answer on scope.

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Sectors we operate in, not just serve.

Five of these sectors run on systems we built and operate today. The sixth is government, where we get suppliers ready for the security questions procurement actually asks. Each page shows the work, the obligations, and the way in.

All five run day-to-day on systems we built and still ship to. Government is the one sector listed on capability rather than a named build, and its page says exactly that.

Engagements sized to where you are.

From a one-off test to a standing engineering team. Every engagement starts by reading your real operating risk.

  • Fixed-scope engagement

    Startups & SMB

    A penetration test, review, or build with a clear target, timeframe, and deliverable.

  • Ongoing advisory / vCISO

    Mid-market & enterprise

    A standing security seat: strategy, review, and board-ready reporting on a regular cadence.

  • Compliance program

    Regulated businesses

    A milestone-driven program toward Essential Eight, SMB1001, ISO 27001, or Privacy Act readiness.

  • Embedded engineering

    Product owners

    A standing build team that designs, ships, and operates software under an ongoing engagement.

Every engagement is run by the team that holds SMB1001:2026 Gold and ships production software every week.

See exactly what we hold, verified on the public registry

Brief us on what you need built or secured.

A platform build, a penetration test, a posture assessment, a compliance program, or a breach that needs remediating. We scope it to your real risk.