WHERE STRATEGY MEETS SECURITY
Your employees didn't know they were breaking policy. Neither did you.
Spartan Cyber Consulting helps mid-market organizations discover what AI tools are operating in their environment, what access those tools have, and whether governance exists to manage the risk. Built on the SAGA methodology. Delivered by practitioners.
Verified Client Result
"Opened our eyes to shadow AI and employees breaking policies they weren't even aware of. This changed how we handle AI as a company and saved us from making tremendous mistakes."
— Mid-Market Organization, SAGA Assessment
Who we are
About Us
Spartan Cyber Consulting was built on a simple premise: mid-market organizations deserve practitioner-grade security methodology — not generic frameworks copied from enterprise playbooks. Our founder brings over a decade of hands-on experience across military, government, private, and public sectors. That background shaped two proprietary methodologies — SAGA and SPEAR — built specifically for real-world conditions.
Our Approach
We don’t start with a framework and fit your organization into it. We start with your environment — your tools, your team, your regulatory obligations — and build the assessment around what’s actually true. Every engagement produces two deliverables: an Executive Scorecard for leadership that communicates risk in business language, and a Technical Findings Report for your security and IT teams with evidence-based findings and a prioritized remediation roadmap. No boilerplate. No filler. No findings that exist only to make the report look thorough.
Every Engagement Delivers
Executive Scorecard
Board-ready. One page. Your AI maturity level, top risks in plain language, and priority actions — no jargon.
Technical Findings Report
Evidence-based findings for your security and IT teams. Every finding includes severity, risk implication, and a specific remediation action.
Reassessment Protocol
AI environments change fast. 6-month reassessments for active adoption environments. 12-month for stable programs. Progress tracked against original findings.
Our Methodologies
SAGA — AI Governance Audit
Most organizations have granted AI systems access they would never grant a human employee, and have no documented record of having done so. SAGA is a structured, three-layer audit methodology that inventories every AI tool in your environment, scores its access and authority across five dimensions, and maps your governance maturity across eight evidence-based dimensions. Three weeks. Two deliverables. One clear picture of your AI risk posture.
SPEAR — Exposure Window Reduction
AI-assisted exploit generation is collapsing the time between vulnerability discovery and active exploitation. Traditional 14-day patch SLAs were built for a world that no longer exists. SPEAR replaces patch-compliance thinking with a four-lever exposure reduction model, Patch, Virtual Patch, Isolate, and Detect & Respond, prioritized by asset tier. The metric that matters isn’t Mean Time to Patch. It’s Mean Time to Mitigate.
AI Advisory — Fight AI With AI
Your adversaries are already using AI to find vulnerabilities, craft phishing attacks, and automate exploitation at scale. We identify where AI tools can strengthen your detection, response, and monitoring capabilities, and where they introduce the very risks they’re supposed to prevent. You get a clear, prioritized map of where AI helps your security program and where it creates new exposure.
What we Offer
Our Services
Why Choose Us
We offer a full suite of cybersecurity services with: Why organizations choose Spartan
Most cybersecurity consultants sell you a framework built for someone else’s environment. We built ours from scratch — specifically for mid-market organizations where AI governance, vulnerability exposure, and resource constraints collide. The person who built SAGA and SPEAR is the person running your engagement.
Trusted Company
A proven track record handling sensitive information across military, government, private, and public sector engagements. We bring the same rigor to your environment that high-stakes organizations demand.
Expertise
Over a decade of hands-on cybersecurity experience across diverse sectors. Industry-leading certifications. Deep understanding of the threat landscape that mid-market organizations actually face, not theoretical enterprise scenarios.
Practitioner-Led
You work directly with the founder, not a junior analyst following a template. Every engagement is led by the practitioner who built the methodology, with direct accountability for findings and recommendations.
No Boilerplate
No 200-page reports padded with generic findings. No recommendations copied from a compliance checklist. Every deliverable is specific to your environment, your tools, and your actual risk exposure.
Meet Our Team
Meet The Experts
Credentials & Background
Military Service
Education
Certifications
Speaking & Instruction
SANS Institute
Instructor & AI Speaker · Fewer than 200 active instructors globally
✓ Verify Credential →Zakery Stufflebeam
Founder & Principal Consultant — Spartan Cyber Consulting
Zak founded Spartan Cyber Consulting after a career spanning U.S. Air Force service, federal government, and private sector cybersecurity. That background, operating in environments where security failures have real consequences — shaped both the SAGA and SPEAR methodologies. Zak holds a Master’s degree in Cybersecurity and brings one of the most credentialed profiles in mid-market consulting: CISSP, GCIH, GPEN, GWAPT, GSOM, CEH, SSCP, Security+, Network+, and Project+. He is a recognized SANS AI speaker with a verified Credly badge, one of a small number of practitioners nationally who has presented on AI security at that level. When you engage Spartan, Zak runs your engagement personally.
Zak Stufflebeam
CEO
With over a decade of cybersecurity experience with public, private, and government sectors I have dedicated myself to my craft and cant wait to bring that passion and skillset to your business.
Testimonial
What they say about us.
On behalf of the entire team, I wanted to express our sincerest gratitude for your time, expertise, and unwavering dedication to furthering our understanding of cybersecurity. Your contributions will undoubtedly continue to resonate with us, as we navigate the evolving landscape of the hospitality industry. Lastly, I wanted to thank you serving and protecting our country from foreign cybersecurity threats. Once again, thank you for your invaluable contribution, Zak. We are incredibly grateful for the opportunity to learn from you and look forward to the possibility of collaborating again in the future! Regards,
Zak Stufflebeam has been extremely instrumental in supporting two different high-visibility cyber missions. His understanding of cyber operation and cyber network defense has allowed the Air Operations Center, and Joint Cyber Team missions to operational success. Zak Stufflebeam is a proven leader in cybersecurity with his role as director of cybersecurity running a security operations center (SOC).
