August 2025 - Building Secure, Resilient & Recoverable Middleware on Azure

Come join us and tune in to hear Bob Smart present on "Behind the Front Door: Building Secure, Resilient & Recoverable Middleware on Azure"

A recent redesign of middleware for a financial services mobile app, serving over half a million active users, demanded constant trade-offs between security, performance, resilience, and recoverability. These dimensions often pull in different directions: zone-aware routing and sticky transactions are preferred for financial processing, while mTLS and fixed egress IPs for allowlisting can clash with native Azure resilience patterns.
The architecture incorporated proactive design for recoverability, including routine failover and disaster recovery testing. Azure Chaos Studio played a central role in validating failover mechanisms and observability controls, enabling automated, repeatable testing aligned with APRA’s CPS 230 expectations.
When the system was tested under real-world pressure, including April’s credential stuffing campaigns, heightened media coverage, and market volatility triggered by "Trump’s Liberation Day", the middleware held strong.

About Bob:
Bob is a Principal Consultant at Lotis, specialising in the resilience and security of critical operations in financial services. He has previously served as Chief Architect and Chief Security Officer across financial services, aged care, and critical infrastructure sectors.
Bob brings deep expertise in enterprise, security, and technology architecture, and is currently helping financial services orgs meet APRA CPS 230 requirements through AZON 230, a purpose-built platform for mapping critical dependencies. He also founded the Continuity Circle community to bridge collaboration between resilience, risk, and architecture professionals.

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Agenda:
3pm - Arrival and registration
3 - 3.30pm - Pizza and chat
3.30 - 4.30pm - Meeting
4.30-5pm - Networking
5pm - Wrap up