Strategy & Architecture / Security Architecture
Architecture. Embedded.
On demand.
Security architecture reviews that expose what your current posture actually looks like. Senior architects embedded in your projects to design security in from day one. And SecArch-as-a-Service — the expertise of a full-time security architect, available fractionally or for the duration of your program.
What we assess
Every layer. Every gap.
A Cliffside Security Architecture Review examines your entire control environment against your business model, threat landscape, and regulatory obligations. We don't work from a generic checklist — we map your actual architecture against what your organisation actually needs to defend.
Segmentation, perimeter controls, internal trust boundaries, east-west traffic visibility, and remote access design. We identify exposure that flat networks and legacy segmentation leave open.
Directory structure, privileged access design, MFA coverage, service account proliferation, and federated identity risks. Identity is the new perimeter — most organisations have left it unarchitected.
Azure, AWS, and M365 configuration review — landing zone design, RBAC structure, workload isolation, logging completeness, and cloud-native control gaps.
EDR coverage, telemetry quality, detection logic completeness, and response capability. We assess whether your detection capability matches your threat model — not just whether tools are deployed.
Assessment of your current posture against zero trust principles — identifying the highest-value control improvements and a realistic sequenced roadmap to reduce implicit trust.
Overlapping tools consuming budget without reducing risk, and critical gaps hidden by the noise. We produce an honest map of where you're over-invested and where you're exposed.
What you receive
A roadmap your board can defend.
The output of a Security Architecture Review is a prioritised, evidence-backed architecture roadmap — not a list of findings. Every recommendation is connected to a specific risk, a specific business consequence, and a realistic implementation path.
A documented view of your existing architecture — controls, gaps, redundancies, and single points of failure.
Every gap connected to a business risk and likelihood — not a CVSS score or a compliance checkbox.
A sequenced, prioritised improvement plan your team can execute — with effort estimates and dependencies mapped.
A plain-language executive summary your board can interrogate and your auditor can rely on.
No tool recommendations tied to vendor relationships. We tell you what to build — you choose who to build it with.
You own the report. Use it with Cliffside, take it to your preferred integrator, or present it to your auditor.
Our approach
Architecture review done honestly.
Most security architecture reviews are produced by vendors trying to sell you their next product. Cliffside partners with leading platforms — Microsoft, AWS, Vanta, KnowBe4, and others — but our recommendations are based on what is right for your environment. If a partner product is not the best fit for you, we will tell you. Our advice is not shaped by margin.
We start from your actual threat landscape — not a theoretical one. We look at your industry, your regulatory obligations, your known adversaries, and the way your business actually operates. The architecture recommendations that follow are calibrated to your real risk, not a generalised best practice framework.
Cliffside has been our preferred partner for Security Architecture and Consulting services. Their ability to provide us with highly qualified architects on short notice has allowed us to manage a frequent surge in demand, delivering high quality security deliverables for large business programs involving external regulators like APRA.
Head of Security Architecture — Financial organisation
Project augmentation
Security architecture embedded in your project.
Not every organisation needs a full-time security architect. Many need one for the duration of a transformation program, a cloud migration, a platform build, or a compliance uplift. Cliffside augments your project team with senior security architects who work alongside your people — providing the security design expertise your project requires without the cost of a permanent hire.
Our architects integrate with your delivery methodology — Agile, waterfall, or hybrid. We attend design sessions, review technical decisions, produce architecture artefacts, and ensure security is designed in from day one rather than retrofitted at the end.
Security architecture embedded in Azure, AWS, and M365 migrations — landing zone design, identity architecture, workload security, and data classification built into the project from the start.
Threat modelling, secure design review, and architecture guidance embedded in your software development lifecycle — so vulnerabilities are designed out, not found in pen tests after launch.
ISO 27001, Essential Eight, and APRA CPS 234 uplift projects require architecture decisions. We ensure the technical controls you implement actually address the risk — not just tick the audit box.
Network re-architecture, data centre exit, SD-WAN deployment, or zero trust implementation — security architecture embedded in the design phase, not bolted on at the end.
SecArch-as-a-Service
A security architect. Fraction of the cost.
A senior security architect costs $180,000–$250,000 per year to hire permanently. Most organisations don't need that capacity full-time — they need deep security architecture expertise available when design decisions are being made, when projects are running, and when their security posture needs to evolve.
SecArch-as-a-Service gives you a dedicated Cliffside security architect on a fractional or time-bound basis. Your architect knows your environment, attends your key meetings, and is available when you need them — without the overhead of a full-time hire.
A defined number of days per month — typically 2–5 — giving you consistent access to senior security architecture expertise across your ongoing technology program. Scales up or down as your needs change.
A security architect embedded for the life of a specific project — from discovery through to delivery. Fixed scope, fixed cost, full security architecture coverage for the duration. Ends when the project ends.
Access to a senior security architect for design reviews, architecture decisions, and second opinions — drawn down as needed. No retainer, no minimum commitment. Available when a decision needs a qualified view.
Know what you're
actually defending.
Start with a Lighthouse Assessment to understand where you are — then decide whether you need a point-in-time review, an architect embedded in your next project, or a fractional security architect on an ongoing basis.