Frequently Asked Questions

Straight answers to the questions Fidelis hears most.

What does Fidelis Management Services do?

Fidelis Management Services (Fidelis) is an independent risk advisory firm. Fidelis helps leaders identify who and what puts their organization at risk, understand where they are exposed, and reduce that exposure over time, through process and control design, training, and recurring senior advice as new threats emerge. Most of its clients have no counterintelligence capability of their own; Fidelis provides that discipline, scoped to the problem in front of them.

What is CISANDRA?

CISANDRA is the on-site counterintelligence tool suite Fidelis installs and supports. It is a set of tools, not a solution: it helps a small office support a large mission, so that even an office of one can work like a complete counterintelligence team. It combines a curated reference foundation, the organization's private analytical memory, and Sandy, an analytical partner who works by text or voice. Learn about CISANDRA

What does counterintelligence have to do with my company?

Counterintelligence is the discipline of understanding hostile people: who they are, what they intend, and how they operate, so you can take away their ability to succeed. Espionage is one part of it. The same discipline addresses terrorism and targeted violence, sabotage, and subversion, because all of them share one foundation, a human being acting with hostile intent. In government it counters foreign intelligence services and the threats they enable. In the private sector, the same methods identify whoever is targeting your executives, your facilities, your technology, or your workforce, whether that is a competitor recruiting your researchers, an aggrieved individual fixated on your leadership, an investor whose interest comes with strings, or an employee on the way out the door. Most security programs are built to defend systems. Fidelis is built to understand the people working against them.

Who do you typically work with?

Organizations whose people, technology, or information are worth targeting: technology and IP-intensive companies, universities and research institutes, contractors, enterprises with trusted-access risk, and boards and executives facing a more volatile threat environment. Engagements are built for leaders who want exposure identified early and reduced deliberately.

We already have cybersecurity. Why would we need Fidelis?

Cybersecurity is essential, but many threats use people, relationships, physical access, trusted vendors, business processes, and legitimate collaboration. Fidelis connects those pathways and determines how they affect what you need to protect. It works alongside your technical teams rather than replacing them.

We already have compliance and enterprise risk management.

Fidelis complements those functions by adding the threat: intent, capability, access, and opportunity. That is what separates a control deficiency on paper from a credible pathway someone could actually use.

Are you investigating our employees?

No. An insider-risk engagement does not presume wrongdoing. Fidelis helps establish responsible ways to recognize, evaluate, and act on risk while respecting privacy, legal requirements, and the organization's own responsibilities.

Can you share examples of past work, or references from other clients?

No, and that is deliberate. Fidelis does not name clients, describe past engagements, or publish case studies. The discretion you would want on your own matter is the discretion every client gets, without exception. If someone referred you to Fidelis, they have already told you what they are willing to say. Beyond that, the useful conversation is about your problem.

How is Fidelis different from a security company, an investigator, or an IT firm?

Fidelis does not perform or sell the work it evaluates, and that independence is the point. Fidelis is not a guard-force provider, a private investigator, or an IT or cybersecurity vendor, so its findings are not shaped by a service it is trying to sell you. Fidelis provides an objective, outside assessment and reporting you can act on. CISANDRA, the tool suite Fidelis offers, is not a solution to any finding: it helps a small office do its own counterintelligence work, and Fidelis never presents it as the answer to what an assessment finds.

Fidelis looks principal-led. Who actually does the work?

Fidelis is intentionally principal-led. On every engagement you work directly with the founder, a senior national-security and counterintelligence professional, so you get senior judgment and a single accountable point of contact rather than a junior team. When a matter calls for it, Fidelis brings in vetted specialists. As the firm grows, that standard, senior people and direct accountability, will not change.

How do engagements usually work?

Most begin with a defined piece of work: a briefing, a workshop or exercise, or a focused review with a clear question and a clear end. That is often enough on its own. Risk is rarely retired in a single stroke, though: threats change, people move, access widens, and the assumptions behind good decisions expire. So many relationships continue on a retained basis, with Fidelis staying close as conditions shift, reassessing exposure, updating the plan, and keeping senior judgment on call. It starts with a brief conversation through the Contact page. Nothing sensitive is needed up front.

How is an engagement scoped?

In writing, before work starts: the decision to be supported, what is included and excluded, the records and interviews required, information-handling terms, review points, and fees. Active tests or exercises are authorized separately, with stop conditions.

Do you conduct investigations or background checks?

No. Fidelis does not conduct licensed private investigations or background investigations. Fidelis's work is independent review, verification, and documentation, advisory in nature, delivered so you can make informed decisions and direct appropriately licensed providers where that is warranted.

Do you assess our IT systems or cybersecurity?

No. Fidelis does not assess IT infrastructure, networks, or cyber defensive posture, and does not perform technical security work. Fidelis's premise is that people are a primary threat vector: many "cyber" losses turn on a human-enabled vulnerability. Fidelis advises on the human dimension of technology protection: the people, partners, access, travel, and information practices through which sensitive technology is actually lost.

Does Fidelis use AI?

Fidelis advisory work is practitioner-led, and accountable human judgment is central to every client product. Internal technology supports information management and analytical consistency. CISANDRA, the on-site tool suite Fidelis offers, includes Sandy, a conversational analytical partner that shows its sources and its reasoning. Your people retain the judgment.

Can you guarantee the threat will be eliminated?

No responsible provider can guarantee that. Fidelis helps clients improve understanding, reduce exposure, disrupt credible pathways to harm, and make better-informed risk decisions, and it states plainly what uncertainty and residual risk remain.

How do you handle confidentiality and sensitive information?

Discretion is fundamental to how Fidelis works. Early conversations can stay at a general level, and Fidelis arranges a secure means to discuss anything sensitive. Please do not send classified, legally privileged, or confidential third-party information through the website; the contact form is for general business inquiries only. See the Privacy & Data Notice for how website information is handled.

How do you price engagements?

Pricing is engagement- and scope-based. Because every organization, problem, and situation is different, Fidelis does not publish a standard hourly rate; the investment reflects the scope, complexity, and duration of the specific engagement. After a short scoping conversation, Fidelis provides a clear proposal, whether a fixed-scope review or an ongoing retained-advisor arrangement, so you know the scope and cost before any work begins.

If yours isn't here, use the Contact page and Fidelis will respond directly.