Description

A focused course, tailored for you

CPS 234 Network Engineering for Australian Banks

Carry an APRA-grade network control set into every firewall change, segment review, and CHG ticket without slowing the change window.

The network engineer signs off the firewall change. The internal auditor opens the walkthrough six months later with that same ticket. Between the two moments sits the evidence the engineer did not know to attach.

$199 one-time

Tailored to your situation. Access within 24 hours. 30-day money-back.

Includes a hand-built implementation playbook delivered alongside course access, generated for your specific situation.

Why this course

Network engineering inside an Australian bank looks like network engineering anywhere else for the first ten minutes of the day. Then a CPS 234 information asset review lands. Then a CPS 230 operational resilience tabletop asks which segment the order management system actually sits on. Then a SWIFT CSP self-attestation needs the access path documented. Then the third-party connectivity team wants the Bloomberg link added to the segmentation diagram before the auditor sees it. The skills that close those four asks are not in any vendor certification path. They are the bridge between engineering work and a regulated bank's evidence trail, and most network engineers learn them by absorbing scar tissue from incidents. This course teaches the bridge directly. Firewall rule changes that produce evidence at change time, not after. Segment boundaries that match the bank's information asset register. Zero Trust overlays that survive APRA review rather than confuse it. The course is built for the engineer who is already strong on the network, and who needs the regulatory mapping to stop being someone else's problem.

What you walk away with

Attach CPS 234-aligned evidence to every firewall rule change at the time of the change, not retrospectively.
Run a segmentation review that maps to the bank's information asset register and survives an APRA tripartite walkthrough.
Translate Zero Trust, NAC, and SDN overlay decisions into control selection language the second-line risk team accepts.
Document SWIFT, Bloomberg, ASX, and market data connectivity as the regulated third-party paths they actually are.
Run a CPS 230 operational resilience tabletop from the network side without ceding the narrative to the resilience team.

The 12 modules

Module 1. CPS 234 paragraph 24 read as a network engineer

The full prudential standard rewritten with the network engineer as the named control owner. Paragraph 24 broken into the eight artefacts a firewall change, a segmentation review, and a NAC policy update each need to produce. The APRA expectations on testing, capability, and reporting reframed as ticket-level evidence rather than annual-attestation evidence. Includes the gap analysis worksheet the bank's internal audit team actually uses.

Module 2. Firewall rule change evidence at the time of change

The CHG ticket template that produces CPS 234 evidence as a by-product of normal change work. Source justification, information asset reference, segmentation impact, third-party impact, rollback evidence, post-implementation verification. Worked examples for ASA, Palo Alto, Check Point, Fortinet, and AWS Security Group changes. The reviewer guidance the change advisory board can apply in under three minutes per ticket.

Module 3. Segmentation that matches the information asset register

How to walk from the bank's information asset register to a defensible segment design. The four segment classes APRA expects to see (regulated data, market connectivity, corporate, untrusted) and the engineering decisions that determine which segment an asset lands in. The diagram set that satisfies a CPS 234 walkthrough, a PCI DSS scope review, and an internal architecture review with one source of truth.

Module 4. CPS 230 operational resilience from the network side

The operational resilience tabletop scripted from the network engineer's seat. Tolerance levels translated into RTO and RPO assertions the network team can actually defend. Critical operations mapped to the segments, links, and devices that carry them. The dependency map the resilience team always asks for and the network team never has ready. Worked example: a payment switch outage tabletop run end to end.

Module 5. Zero Trust as control selection, not vendor selection

Zero Trust for a brownfield bank, not a greenfield startup. ZTNA, microsegmentation, and identity-aware proxies framed as specific CPS 234 controls rather than a product category. The four decisions that determine whether a Zero Trust overlay reduces or increases CPS 234 evidence burden. Vendor-neutral evaluation matrix that maps each capability to the prudential control it satisfies.

Module 6. NAC, 802.1X, and BYOD inside a regulated bank

Network access control as a CPS 234 paragraph 24 control. The policy structure that satisfies APRA, the bank's own information security standard, and the trading floor's tolerance for friction. BYOD framed as a third-party access decision. The post-quarantine workflow that produces evidence rather than alert fatigue. Real numbers on user impact from a 40,000-endpoint deployment.

Module 7. Third-party connectivity as regulated access

SWIFT, Bloomberg, ASX, Reuters, market data feeds, custodian links, and SaaS vendor connections treated as the regulated third-party access paths they are. CPS 234 paragraph 24 applied to each. The SWIFT CSP self-attestation walked control by control from the network engineer's seat. The artefacts that satisfy the internal third-party risk team without three rounds of email.

Module 8. SD-WAN, SDN, and overlay control planes

Overlay networking inside a regulated bank. The control-plane decisions that materially affect CPS 234 evidence (centralised policy, distributed enforcement, encrypted overlays, segmentation across geographies). The four questions APRA reviewers ask about SD-WAN overlays. The evidence pack a brownfield SD-WAN migration needs to produce on the way through, not after the fact.

Module 9. Cloud connectivity and the on-prem boundary

Direct Connect, ExpressRoute, Cloud Interconnect, and Equinix Fabric framed as segment extensions of the bank's information asset register. The CPS 234 expectations on cloud connectivity that engineers usually inherit from the cloud team. Transit gateway and hub-and-spoke architectures evaluated against the segmentation rules from module 3. The evidence trail that survives an APRA cloud walkthrough.

Module 10. Incident response from the network engineer's seat

The first 90 minutes of a network-side incident scripted as a CPS 234 evidence-producing exercise rather than a heroic response. The packet captures, flow logs, firewall syslogs, and config snapshots that have to be preserved at minute zero. The hand-off to the security operations team and the resilience team. The post-incident review template that produces lessons learnt the regulator will read.

Module 11. Internal audit walkthroughs without surprises

How the network engineer prepares for a CPS 234 internal audit walkthrough. The 11 artefacts internal audit always asks for, in the order they ask. The three engineering decisions auditors flag every year. The walkthrough rehearsal script the network team can run two weeks before the audit window opens. Includes the response template for control gaps the engineer cannot close before the close-out meeting.

Module 12. Building the network engineering control catalogue

The deliverable that consolidates modules 1 through 11. A network engineering control catalogue tied to the bank's information asset register, the CPS 234 control set, the CPS 230 critical operations list, and the internal information security standard. The catalogue becomes the source of truth the engineer uses in CHG tickets, segmentation reviews, third-party access reviews, and audit walkthroughs. Maintained as code, versioned, and reviewed quarterly.

How this addresses your situation

Specific modules that map to what you said you are dealing with.

Firewall rule change in the CHG queue with no CPS 234 evidence attached, module 2 produces the evidence at change time.

Segmentation review ahead of an APRA tripartite walkthrough, modules 1, 3, and 11 deliver the artefact set.

CPS 230 operational resilience tabletop, module 4 scripts the network team's role and prepares the dependency map.

SWIFT CSP self-attestation due, module 7 walks the control set from the network engineer's seat.

What you get with this course

12 modules, Written walk-through, paced for a working network engineer.
CHG ticket evidence template aligned to CPS 234 paragraph 24, ready for the bank's change tooling.
Information asset register to segment design walkthrough worksheet.
CPS 230 tabletop script from the network team's seat.
Network engineering control catalogue starter set, versioned and maintained as code.
Hand-built implementation playbook delivered alongside the course.

What you will have in hand by Day 1, Week 1, Month 1

Within 24 hours: account provisioned, course modules available, implementation playbook delivered.

Week 1: modules 1 through 4 establish the CPS 234 read and the firewall change evidence template.

Weeks 2 to 3: modules 5 through 8 cover the architectural decisions (Zero Trust, NAC, third-party connectivity, SD-WAN).

Week 4: modules 9 through 12 cover cloud connectivity, incident response, audit walkthroughs, and the consolidated control catalogue.

Before and after

Before

The network engineer signs off the firewall rule change because rejecting would slow the trading desk. Three months later that ticket is the first one internal audit pulls. The evidence has to be reconstructed under time pressure, often from memory, often by the wrong person.

After

The network engineer attaches CPS 234-aligned evidence to the CHG ticket as part of the change. The reviewer applies a three-minute checklist. Internal audit pulls the ticket six months later and the evidence is already there. The walkthrough closes without a finding.

What happens if you do not address this

Australian banks are inside a CPS 234 review cycle that hardens every year. APRA tripartite reviews and internal audit walkthroughs are landing more frequently and with more depth. The network engineer who cannot produce control evidence at change time will be the engineer whose tickets are pulled, whose name appears in the finding, and whose change rights end up under additional review. The skill closes the gap. The absence of the skill widens it.

Who it is for

Network engineer or senior network engineer inside an Australian ADI (Authorised Deposit-taking Institution), large insurer, or asset manager. Day job covers firewall changes, segmentation, routing, NAC, SD-WAN or SDN, vendor and market data connectivity. Touches CPS 234 paragraph 24, CPS 230, SWIFT CSP, PCI DSS for cards-touching segments, and the internal information security standard derived from ISO 27001 Annex A.13. Reports into a network manager or infrastructure manager who reports into a Head of Infrastructure or Head of Network. Sits adjacent to the security operations team without being in it.

Who this is NOT for. Not for security analysts whose day is SIEM tuning and incident response. Not for cloud architects whose work is greenfield VPC design with no on-premises segment to defend. Not for engineers at organisations outside the APRA-regulated perimeter. The course assumes you already configure firewalls, design segments, and own change tickets.

How it arrives

Written walk-through, downloadable templates, and the hand-built implementation playbook. Hosted in the Art of Service learning environment, accessed via the account provisioned at purchase.

Time investment. Around 45 to 60 minutes per module, totalling 9 to 12 hours over a four-week pace. Designed for evening or weekend study around an active CHG queue.

Why $199 is the right number

Vendor certification paths teach the product, not the regulatory mapping. APRA prudential practice guides describe the expectation, not the engineering work. Internal compliance training covers policy, not how to satisfy the policy from a network engineer's keyboard. This course sits in the gap none of those three cover.

FAQ

Is this course only useful for engineers at the major Australian banks?

No. Any APRA-regulated entity (large insurer, asset manager, superannuation fund, neobank) is inside CPS 234 and CPS 230. The course applies wherever a network engineer is producing evidence for an APRA-regulated information asset register.

Does the course assume a specific firewall vendor?

No. Worked examples cover ASA, Palo Alto, Check Point, Fortinet, and AWS Security Groups. The control mapping is vendor-neutral. The evidence template works against the bank's change tooling, not a specific firewall product.

How does this differ from a CISSP, CCIE Security, or APRA-aligned compliance certification?

Those certifications cover broad bodies of knowledge. This course covers the specific bridge between network engineering work and CPS 234, CPS 230, and SWIFT CSP evidence requirements at the level of a CHG ticket or a segmentation review. It complements the certifications; it does not replace them.

What is the implementation playbook?

A hand-built document tailored to the buyer's role and situation, delivered within 24 hours of purchase. For a Sydney network engineer at an ADI, the playbook walks the first 30 days of applying the course to the buyer's actual CHG queue and segmentation review cycle.

Refund policy?

30-day money-back guarantee. If the course does not close the gap it promises to close, the purchase is refunded in full.

30-day money-back guarantee. If after a week of working through the materials this is not what you needed, reply to the receipt email and a full refund is processed. No questions, no forms.

Within 24 hours your account in the learning environment is provisioned and the tailored implementation playbook is delivered alongside it.