Assess

Enterprise security architecture consulting

Bring your EDR, SIEM, identity and other security tools into one unified architectural blueprint.

We turn fragmented security controls into a coherent security program, giving you visibility over your data flows and system boundaries as your organization grows.

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Ali Aleali

Ali Aleali, CISSP, CCSP

Co-Founder & Principal Consultant

Former security architect for Bank of Canada and Payments Canada. CISSP, CCSP, more than twenty years in enterprise security. Leads every engagement.

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What the engagement covers

Every engagement follows Assess, Build, Operate, scoped to the system, and follows a documented methodology. Delivered as a project, as a build we do with your team, or as ongoing advisory inside a fractional security team retainer.

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Security architecture review

A component-and-connection walk of an existing system: hardening, patching, endpoint protection and privileged access per component; authentication, encryption and logging per connection. Findings ranked by business consequence, each with a concrete fix.

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Architecture assessment and target state

A current-state assessment across the security capabilities, then a target-state design with a sequenced roadmap. Diagrams and requirements engineers can implement.

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New system and cloud design advisory

Security architecture for new builds, cloud migrations and integrations, from the first whiteboard session through implementation review and the penetration test that validates the result.

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Operational handoff and detection coverage

We confirm logs ship to a central facility, detection use cases exist for the risks the design accepts, and compliance evidence is produced by normal operation.

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Controls mapped to the frameworks

Each design decision is tied to the SOC 2 criteria and ISO 27001 controls it satisfies, so the architecture answers the audit and the customer questionnaire.

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Independent of the vendor

Vendor solution engineers know their product's reference architecture. Our role is whether the product is the right control at all, where it sits in the wider design, and whether its telemetry reaches your security operations team.

Assess, Build, Operate, applied to one system

The same model as the rest of the security program, scoped to the system in front of us. A documented methodology, led by a senior architect with more than ten years of enterprise security experience and a CISSP.

01

Assess

Interviews with the people who know the system, then a component-and-connection walk: hardening, patching and privileged access per component; authentication, encryption and logging per connection. Findings ranked by business consequence, each with a fix.

02

Build

A documented target architecture: data flows, control placement, security requirements, and the SOC 2 criteria and ISO 27001 controls each design decision satisfies. Your engineers can build from it, or our team builds it with you.

03

Operate

Handoff to security operations: logs reach a central facility, detection use cases exist for the risks the design accepts, and compliance evidence comes from normal operation. Ongoing advisory continues inside a fractional security team retainer when you want it.

What you hold at the end

Boxes and arrows your engineers can build from and your auditors can read.

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  • Architecture diagram with data flows

  • Control placement per component and connection

  • Ranked findings, each with a fix

  • Target-state design and sequenced roadmap

  • SOC 2 and ISO 27001 control mapping

  • Logging and detection coverage map

  • Security requirements for the build team

  • Operational handoff notes for security operations

What changes once the architecture exists

One architecture, every framework. The controls live in the systems, so the evidence comes from the systems.

Coverage on one diagram

Which components and connections EDR, SIEM and identity cover, and where logs stop, written down and kept current.

Designs answer auditors and attackers with the same diagram

SOC 2 CC6 and ISO 27001 Annex A questions on encryption, privileged access and segmentation get design-level answers.

Security joins at design time

Findings become design changes instead of risk acceptances at go-live.

Operations can run it

Logs flow to a central facility, detection use cases exist, and the compliance program gets its evidence from normal operation.

When an architecture engagement is the right call

Right call when

  • A compliance requirement with system implications: SOC 2, ISO 27001 or a customer security review

  • A new platform build, a cloud migration or a major integration is on the roadmap

  • The first serious security technology rollout, such as EDR or SIEM, is being planned

  • Security tools are deployed and no current diagram shows which components and connections they cover

Wrong call when

  • You need a point-in-time test of one application; that is a penetration test

  • The vendor's reference architecture is the whole question; use the vendor's solution engineers

  • The risk decisions the design will raise have no executive owner yet

Frequently asked questions

Enterprise security architecture is the documented design of how security capabilities protect an organization's systems: which controls exist, where they sit on each component and connection, and how they map to the business processes the systems serve. The working artifact is an architecture diagram with data flows and control placement, kept current as systems change.

A review examines one system or platform in depth: its components, connections and the controls on each, producing ranked findings and fixes. An assessment measures the architecture function across the organization against the security capabilities and produces a maturity view with a target state and roadmap. A review answers whether this system is designed securely. An assessment answers whether security is designed into how the organization builds.

Accountability rests with the senior technology or security leader, typically the CTO or CISO, regardless of who provides the advice. The advising security architect, whether in-house, fractional or consulting, designs and reviews. The accountable executive decides and owns the risk the design accepts.

A typical bar is ten or more years of cybersecurity experience with at least five in security architecture, supported by certifications such as CISSP, CCSP, CISA, CISM or GIAC. Beyond credentials, the consultant needs a working understanding of the technology being secured, the business processes it serves, and what security operations requires to run the system day to day.

At the first of: a compliance requirement with system implications (SOC 2, ISO 27001, a customer security review), a new platform build or cloud migration, or the first serious security technology deployment such as EDR or SIEM. Advice before these moments shapes the design. Advice after them audits it, and redesign costs more than design.

No. Vendor solution engineers know their product's reference architecture better than anyone, and their hours are already paid for. Our role is independent: whether the product is the right control at all, where it sits in the wider design, and whether its telemetry reaches your security operations team.

Talk to the architect who would do the work

A 30-minute call. We look at your environment and say plainly whether we can help and what it would take.

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