SABSA® Advanced A3: Architecture & Design

Module A3 – Advanced SABSA Architecture & Design

The SABSA A3 Course is an advanced 5 day program for those who already have SABSA knowledge and understanding through having been certified at SABSA Foundation Level. Those who have also gained field experience of using their Foundation Level training in a work situation will benefit most from attendance at a SABSA Advanced course.

The emphasis of A3 is very much on group discussions, personal research and practical workshops, rather than on teaching new SABSA materials, although this course does take the F1/F2 content to a greater degree of depth within the scope of Architecture and Design. The course is NOT a technology course, but a course in how to apply SABSA processes to the development of architectures and designs for business solutions. Some of the case studies for workshops suggest certain technology deployments but the focus is not on learning about these technologies.

The SABSA Institute Professional Competency Framework is created from Bloom’s Taxonomy of Cognitive Levels. Advanced modules are not about mere knowledge – knowledge about SABSA has already been developed and tested at Foundation Level (SCF certification) – they are about the development and demonstration of competence to apply SABSA and achieve valuable results for the benefit of the organisation and the individual.

Learning outcomes

The SABSA Institute education and training programme is based on a competency framework comprising a set of knowledge elements, each one expanded to the six cognitive levels of Bloom’s taxonomy. The Foundation courses cover all the SABSA knowledge elements at cognitive levels 1 (Knowledge) and 2 (Comprehension) – which means that having been certified at SABSA Foundation Level you have proved that you ‘know stuff’ and that you ‘understand the stuff’.

All the Advanced SABSA courses take these same knowledge elements and extend them to the next four cognitive levels: 3 (Application), 4 (Analysis), 5 (Synthesis) and 6 (Evaluation). However, each individual Advanced Course restricts the set of knowledge elements covered to those relevant to the specific knowledge domain (in the case of A3, the knowledge domain of Architecture and Design). After attending the A3 course and becoming certified, you will prove that you can apply knowledge with an in-depth understanding and analysis of SABSA, in turn allowing one to be able to evaluate and make well rounded choices.

Benefits in attending this Advanced SABSA course:

• Experience in applying the SABSA Development Process to their specific organisation, sector and culture including providing security solutions to today’s burning issues and ‘hot topic’ areas.
• The skills and competence to plan, design, implement and manage a SABSA Architecture and its through-life processes.
• Customised strategies and detailed work-products to apply the SABSA Development Process at Enterprise or Solutions level, and throughout the business lifecycle.
• Customised approaches, techniques & models to integrate and align security architecture with the requirements of existing Enterprise & IT Architecture methods, standards and frameworks.
• A practical SABSA-based approach to providing secure information services that are aligned with the needs of the business.

Who should attend

• SABSA Chartered Practitioner Candidates
• SABSA Chartered Master Architect (SCM) Candidates
• Any professional seeking to develop practical advanced competency to integrate and align Security & Risk with Enterprise Architecture Frameworks & Standards.

Course contents

1.       SABSA as a Problem Solving Framework for Today’s Burning Issues

• Evolution of Architecture & Strategy
• Change: Legacy & Future-Proof
• A Structured Thought Process for Dealing with Any Problem

2.       Stakeholder Value Propositions

• Real-world Buy-in & Support
• Cultural Shift
• Customising Value Propositions

3.       Framework Alignment

• Lifecycle & Scope issues
• Greenfield Site or Alignment & Integration with Existing Investments

4.        Advanced Attributes Profiling (1)

• Attributes as Risk Appetite Thresholds
• Risk Responsibility Delegations
• Attributes in Domains
• Multi-tiered Attributes – Organisation Domains
• Inheritance & Aggregation
• Process Engineering & Vertical Systemic Interactions
• Compound Interactions in Hyper-connectivity
• Approaches to Conceptualising Requirements

5.       Advanced Attributes Profiling (2)

• Lifecycle Risk Perspectives
• Lifecycle Inheritance & Aggregation
• Programmes, Projects & Solutions
• Gap Analysis & Establishment

6.       Traceability Concept

• Traceability for Completeness & Justification
• The Traceability Layer-Map
• Traceable Capability

7.       Logical Layer Engineering

• Top-Down Systems Analysis
• Top-Down Process Analysis
• Security Relationship of Systems & Processes
• Relationship with Business Assets
• Logical Domains, Information Flows & Transformations
• Logical Security Services
• Logical Trust Modelling

8.       Physical Layer Engineering

• Physical Architecture & Relationship with Logical Entities
• Physical Domains, Data Exchanges & System Interactions
• Physical Security Mechanisms
• Security Processing Cycle & The Finite State Machine Model

9.       Engineering the Multi-Tier Control Strategy

• Defence-in-Depth Layering
• Capability-Based Layering
• SABSA Multi-Tiered Control Strategy
• Multi-Tiered Control Strategy in Risk Management
• Strength-in-Depth Capability Engineering

10.   Adapting the SABSA Process – Fit-for-Purpose Process Design

• Unique Requirements
• Variability of Inputs & Outputs
• Variability of Scope
• Customising the SABSA Process

11.   Full Requirements-to- Solutions Traceability

• Detailed Application of the Traceability Layer-Map

12.   SABSA for Evaluating Standards & Solutions

• Applying SABSA to Evaluate & Address Real-World Short- Comings In Standards & Solutions

Course fees

Course

Fees A$ Per Person

SABSA^® Advanced Module A3:

Architecture & Design
Course + Exam
$4850 + gst

Requirement for Personal Computers

Due to the nature of Advanced course modules and examination, it is required that participants bring personal computing devices in order to create, discuss, share, populate and store personal work product in portable, editable form, such that it can be applied extensively:

• In the candidate’s place of work;
• In the preparation and submission of the candidate’s examination answers.

Candidates are responsible for ensuring the computing devices they use are pre-loaded with all software that may be appropriate to their needs including word processors, spread sheets, databases, and diagramming tools.

Prerequisites:

The SABSA Foundation Certificate is a pre-requisite for the SABSA Advanced modules.

Examination:

The examination approach for a SABSA Advanced Course is totally different from that used at Foundation Level. Candidates are required to demonstrate advanced competencies to use the SABSA method and framework.
The examination is therefore entirely “open book” and project-based. Examination papers contain 5 questions from which candidates must choose 2 to answer. Using examples from real working environments, or by creating a case study, or a combination of both, candidates are required to assess issues, evaluate solution approaches, and customise and apply the SABSA method and framework to create and populate appropriate SABSA work-products (techniques, tools, templates, models, frameworks, etc.).

Examination answers must be provided within 4 weeks of the examination date.

Please understand that this more flexible format means your results will take longer than for Foundation - marking will only begin when the last delegate's exam is submitted which means it could take 10 to 12 weeks for notification if several delegates take the full four weeks to submit their exams.