Origins: Why ARMOR?

Over the past several years, I have spoken with hundreds of CISOs and security leaders across organizations of every size, from small businesses to global enterprises. Despite differences in budget and technology, they share a common challenge: most are not using offensive security results to drive tactical, operational, and strategic decisions.

That gap is not from neglect; it is the result of how our industry has evolved. For decades, frameworks and compliance programs have taught us to treat offensive security as validation, not as a continuous discipline. Penetration testing has become our annual report card. Teams work hard all year to strengthen defenses, document playbooks, and implement controls, only to test them once, patch what is found, and repeat the cycle.

It is an understandable pattern but also a limiting one. Think of athletics such as football, basketball, or hockey. If teams only trained in the gym but never practiced the game, they would be strong in theory but untested in execution. When game day arrived, they would lose not from weakness, but from lack of real experience.

That is where cybersecurity finds itself today. We build strong networks and write detailed procedures, yet rarely test them under real pressure. Our defenses assume ideal conditions, our playbooks remain theoretical, and our incident response is often unproven when it matters most. We have mastered preparation but not performance.

The ARMOR Model was created to change that, helping organizations move from periodic testing to continuous, adaptive resilience. It provides a practical roadmap that connects offensive testing to real-world readiness. ARMOR is not a product or a tool, and it is not owned by any vendor. It is a vendor-agnostic model built to turn testing into an ongoing discipline that strengthens detection, response, and confidence.

The goal of ARMOR is not to replace existing frameworks but to help organizations operationalize them. Offensive security should not stand apart from governance, risk, and operations; it should inform them. When used effectively, offensive outcomes become business insights that guide smarter and faster decisions.

We cannot buy our way to resilience or audit our way to readiness. But we can practice, measure, and improve. That is what ARMOR is about: turning testing into continuous validation and resilience into a sustained capability.

Greg Anderson - Creator, The ARMOR Model™