The issue that I reported in my last bug report is no coincidence. I'm able to reproduce it, here's what I did.
1) Restored OS backup image containing previous version of AV suite and CIS 8012 with HIPS rules in place.
2) Started system and logged on to the Windows desktop and just let it idle for a while waiting for the AV suite to start updating its software.
3) After a while the AV suite started updating itself and after just a few minutes it finished its updating process without any issues (note: no reboot needed).
4) I checked the HIPS rules, no problems there, all rules are in place.
5) Kept the system running for some time, did some browsing on the internet, opened up the new AV suite GUI just to have a look at it and closed it and let the system running for some more time.
6) Checked the HIPS rules again, everything fine, all rules are in place.
7) Now I did shutdown the system and did wait a while after it powered down before restarting it again.
8) After logging on to the Windows desktop I waited a while for all tray icons to appear and to become ready.
9) Now I checked the HIPS rules, and I'm sorry to say but all rules were gone.
Please note that I've executed all above steps two times in the past days and exactly the same thing keeps happening, no more HIPS rules at the end.
Allow me to say that this is very frustrating to say the least.