Description

A focused course, tailored for you

Security Architecture Evidence for Financial Services Audits

Turn your architecture decisions into the documented control evidence APRA, ASD, and internal audit can actually sign off.

You designed the control. You can explain it in a whiteboard session. But when APRA or an internal audit team asks for the evidence artefact that maps that design decision to a tested obligation under CPS 234 or the ASD ISM, the documentation trail is thin or missing. The architecture is sound; the audit pack is not.

$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

Security architects at large financial services groups spend months designing security controls that satisfy regulatory intent. The designs are peer-reviewed, technically strong, and aligned to frameworks. The problem surfaces at attestation time: the artefacts needed to demonstrate control effectiveness to APRA, the Australian Cyber Security Centre, or an internal second-line assurance function were never systematically produced during the design process. Instead, a sprint of retrospective documentation begins four weeks before the attestation window closes. The result is an evidence pack that looks assembled rather than lived-in, which is exactly what auditors are trained to identify. This course closes that gap by treating audit artefact production as a design output, not a post-design task.

What you walk away with

Produce a control narrative document that maps each reference architecture decision to its corresponding CPS 234 obligation and tested evidence.
Build a threat model output format that doubles as an audit artefact without rework at attestation time.
Create an ASD ISM maturity evidence record from existing network segmentation and endpoint design decisions.
Design a cloud security architecture that generates its own evidence trail as deployment proceeds, using tagging and policy-as-code artefacts.
Deliver a SOCI Act critical infrastructure security plan that satisfies the Department of Home Affairs reporting format.
Run a security design review process that produces a documented decision log acceptable to a second-line assurance function.

The 12 modules

Module 1. The Attestation Artefact Problem in Financial Services Security Architecture

Examines why security architects at banks and diversified financial groups consistently arrive at attestation windows with thin documentation despite strong designs. Maps the gap between a security reference architecture document and the evidence pack a Board Risk Committee or APRA prudential supervisor expects. Establishes the principle that audit evidence must be a design output, not a retrospective reconstruction. Introduces the artefact inventory framework used throughout the course.

Module 2. Reading CPS 234 as an Architect: Obligations That Need Design Decisions

Works through each CPS 234 obligation from an architect's perspective, identifying which ones require documented design decisions (information security capability, policy framework, control implementation, testing, and notification) versus which are governance-layer obligations. Produces a design decision register template keyed to CPS 234 paragraph numbers, so every subsequent architecture review generates a pre-mapped evidence row automatically.

Module 3. Threat Model Outputs That Double as Audit Evidence

Covers STRIDE and PASTA threat modelling methods adapted for financial services environments, with explicit attention to producing outputs that satisfy CPS 234 Paragraph 36 (testing) and Paragraph 27 (control implementation) evidence requirements. The module deliverable is a threat model report template with built-in APRA evidence mapping columns, so the threat model and the audit artefact are the same document.

Module 4. Network Segmentation Decisions as ASD ISM Evidence Records

Maps the ASD Information Security Manual control set relevant to network architecture (Gateway controls, network monitoring, data flow management) to the design decision points in a typical financial services hybrid environment. Walks through the process of converting a network segmentation diagram and its underlying design rationale into an ISM evidence record with control identifiers, implementation status, and residual risk notation that an ACSC assessment team accepts without follow-up queries.

Module 5. ASD Essential Eight: Mapping Maturity Levels to Architecture Decisions

Translates the Essential Eight maturity model into a series of concrete architecture decisions that produce their own evidence. Covers application control implementation choices, patch management architecture, macro hardening, and privileged access workstation design at each maturity tier. Produces an Essential Eight evidence matrix that is populated as a side-effect of the architecture work rather than as a separate documentation exercise.

Module 6. Cloud Landing Zone Design That Generates Its Own Audit Trail

Addresses the specific challenge of AWS and Azure landing zone architectures in financial services: how to design account structure, policy-as-code guardrails, tagging taxonomies, and logging pipelines such that deployment activity automatically produces the control evidence CPS 234 and the ISM require. Covers AWS Control Tower and Azure Landing Zone accelerator patterns adapted for APRA-regulated entities, with an audit trail configuration checklist as the module deliverable.

Module 7. The Control Narrative Document: Translating Architecture Into Regulator Language

Teaches the structure and language of a control narrative document: the format used by APRA-regulated entities to explain how a specific architectural decision implements a specific regulatory obligation. Covers the six-element structure (obligation, control objective, architectural decision, implementation evidence, testing evidence, residual risk) with worked examples from network segmentation, identity architecture, and data classification decisions common to large financial groups.

Module 8. SOCI Act Security Plans for Critical Infrastructure Architects

Covers the Security of Critical Infrastructure Act obligations relevant to a security architect at a financial market infrastructure or financial institution classified as critical infrastructure. Focuses on the critical infrastructure risk management programme (CIRMP) and sector-specific rules, and walks through producing a security plan document that satisfies the Department of Home Affairs format. Includes a mapping from CPS 234 and ASD ISM controls already in place to CIRMP requirements to avoid duplicate documentation work.

Module 9. Identity Architecture and Privileged Access Evidence for Internal Audit

Addresses one of the most frequently queried areas in second-line and internal audit reviews: how identity and privileged access management architecture decisions are evidenced. Covers CyberArk, Azure PIM, and AWS IAM design patterns used in large financial services environments, and produces a privileged access control evidence document that maps each design decision to the relevant CPS 234 obligation and internal audit finding category, substantially reducing the back-and-forth with internal audit teams.

Module 10. Running a Security Design Review That Produces a Decision Log

Redesigns the security design review process so that the output is a decision log rather than a meeting note. Covers the review artefact format, the criteria for a design decision to qualify as a control evidence entry, and the workflow for getting design review outputs into the architecture repository in a form that the attestation process can consume directly. Includes a facilitation guide for running design reviews with product and infrastructure teams who are unfamiliar with the regulatory documentation requirement.

Module 11. The Pre-Attestation Evidence Pack Assembly Process

Walks through the four-week process of assembling the CPS 234 attestation evidence pack from artefacts produced during the design and delivery cycle rather than from retrospective reconstruction. Covers the evidence inventory check, gap identification, compensating control documentation for gaps, and the final pack structure that a Board Risk Committee and a prudential supervisor accept. Produces a repeatable pre-attestation checklist tailored to a large financial group's architecture function.

Module 12. Communicating Architecture Risk to the Board Risk Committee

Covers the skill of translating residual architectural risk into the language a Board Risk Committee uses in its risk appetite statements. Addresses the common failure mode where security architects produce technically precise risk statements that board members cannot act on. Produces a risk communication template that maps architectural residual risk to risk appetite categories, quantified likelihood and impact where available, and recommended board-level decision points, using examples from cloud adoption decisions and third-party connectivity design.

How this addresses your situation

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

You are four weeks from the CPS 234 attestation window and the evidence pack is incomplete: modules 1, 7, 11.

Your threat model process produces good design outputs but the audit function says the documentation is not in the right format: modules 3, 7.

A new cloud landing zone has been approved and you need to design it so it produces its own audit trail from day one: modules 6, 9.

Internal audit has queried your identity and privileged access architecture and you need to produce evidence documentation quickly: modules 9, 10.

What you get with this course

Twelve written modules delivered in the Art of Service learning environment, each producing a specific artefact.
Downloadable templates: design decision register, threat model with APRA evidence mapping columns, ASD ISM evidence matrix, control narrative document, privileged access control evidence document, pre-attestation checklist, board risk communication template.
Hand-built implementation playbook: a personalised guide to applying the course artefacts to your specific architecture context, including your organisation's regulatory obligations mix and technology stack.
Worked examples drawn from Australian financial services cloud and on-prem hybrid environments.
Course access within 24 hours of purchase.

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

Access to the learning environment and the hand-built implementation playbook: within 24 hours of purchase.

All twelve modules available immediately on access.

Downloadable templates available from the first module.

Implementation playbook is personalised to your role and architecture context before delivery.

Before and after

Before

The attestation sprint. Four weeks before the window closes, a retrospective documentation exercise begins. Architects reconstruct the rationale for decisions made months earlier, produce control narratives from memory, and negotiate with internal audit over whether the format is acceptable. Each attestation cycle costs two to three weeks of architecture bandwidth that could be spent on forward design.

After

Attestation becomes an assembly exercise rather than a reconstruction exercise. Design reviews produce decision logs. Threat models produce dual-purpose artefacts. Cloud deployments produce their own evidence trails. The four-week sprint collapses to a two-day assembly and review. The architecture function enters the attestation window with a complete evidence pack and bandwidth to answer prudential supervisor queries.

What happens if you do not address this

Each attestation cycle that relies on retrospective reconstruction is a cycle where the evidence pack reflects the documentation quality rather than the control quality. An APRA prudential supervisor who cannot trace an architectural decision through to a tested control will raise a finding regardless of whether the underlying design is sound. A pattern of documentation findings accumulates into a supervisory concern about the maturity of the information security function, not just the architecture team.

Who it is for

Senior security architects and lead security engineers at Australian financial services groups who are accountable for the organisation's security reference architectures, threat models, and regulatory control mappings. They work across cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, on-prem hybrid), advise product and infrastructure teams on security design, and are involved in APRA CPS 234 attestation, ASD Essential Eight assessments, and SOCI Act critical infrastructure obligations. They are technically strong but find the translation from design artefact to audit evidence artefact labour-intensive and inconsistent.

Who this is NOT for. Security operations analysts whose primary work is incident response and SOC tooling. IT auditors who consume the evidence rather than produce the architectural decisions behind it. Security architects outside financial services who do not face CPS 234 or ASD ISM obligations.

How it arrives

Text-based course in the Art of Service learning environment, plus downloadable templates and worked examples for every module, plus the hand-built implementation playbook delivered alongside course access.

Time investment. Each module is designed to be completed in 45-60 minutes. The full twelve-module course requires approximately ten to twelve hours, which most participants complete across three to four working weeks alongside their normal responsibilities.

Why $199 is the right number

APRA CPS 234 training available through the FSC and similar bodies covers the regulatory text and governance obligations but does not address the architecture-to-evidence translation problem. ASD Essential Eight training courses cover the maturity model but do not produce reusable artefact templates. Engaging a Big4 firm to run an attestation support engagement covers the documentation gap for one cycle at a cost of $50,000-$150,000 and leaves no repeatable capability inside the architecture function. This course builds the internal capability at $199.

FAQ

Is this course specific to a particular cloud platform?

The cloud landing zone module covers AWS and Azure patterns in detail, as these are the platforms used by most large Australian financial services groups. The artefact frameworks and control narrative structures apply regardless of platform.

Does this course cover APRA CPS 230 as well as CPS 234?

The course focuses on CPS 234 (information security) as the primary regulatory obligation for security architects. CPS 230 (operational risk management) obligations that overlap with security architecture, particularly those relating to third-party and technology risk, are covered in the relevant modules.

How is the implementation playbook personalised?

After purchase, Gerard reviews your role details and architecture context and builds the playbook to reflect your specific regulatory obligations mix, technology environment, and the attestation timeline you are working toward. It is not a generic guide.

Can I ask questions after completing the modules?

Reply to the course access email with questions. Gerard responds by reply, not via a call or meeting.

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.