Threat modeling, is a specialist profession that is closely related to software and application development. It encompasses the systematic identification, analysis, and mitigation of security risks and vulnerabilities within an application or system. This methodical approach involves identifying and prioritizing potential threats, evaluating the effectiveness of mitigations, and enhancing the application’s overall security posture. A threat model serves as a structured representation of all information impacting an application’s security, applicable across a spectrum of domains, including software, applications, systems, networks, distributed systems, IoT devices, and business processes.
The primary objective of the threat modeling process is to identify, discuss, and comprehend hazards and their corresponding mitigations in the context of safeguarding critical assets. Typically, a threat model includes a subject description, assumptions, potential threats, mitigation methods, and a validation mechanism.
Threat modeling provides a security-focused perspective on the application and its environment, facilitating informed security risk decisions. It results in a prioritized list of security enhancements for an application’s concept, needs, design, or implementation.
application’s concept, needs, design, or implementation.
Various threat modeling techniques can be employed to identify and prioritize potential threats, each with its strengths and weaknesses:
- STRIDE: Spoofing, Tampering, Repudiation, Information Disclosure, Denial of Service, and Elevation of Privilege.
- PASTA: Process for Attack Simulation and Threat Analysis, a risk-centric approach.
- VAST: Visual, Agile, and Simple Threat Modeling, a lightweight and agile approach.
- Trike: Threats, Risks, and Vulnerabilities Identification and Knowledge Elicitation, a comprehensive approach.
- CVSS: Common Vulnerability Scoring System, assessing the severity of vulnerabilities.
- Attack Trees: A graphical representation of possible attacks against a system.
- Security Cards: A collaborative card game for identifying and analyzing threats.
- hTMM: Hybrid Threat Modeling Methodology, a comprehensive approach combining strengths from other techniques.
When selecting a threat modeling technique, factors such as industry, security department size, organizational makeup, available resources, risk model, and the purpose of threat modeling must be considered.
Threat modeling tools
Organizations employ various threat modeling tools to enhance their security measures, including:
- OWASP Threat Dragon: An open-source, web-based threat modeling tool.
- IriusRisk: A threat modeling and secure design solution.
- Kenna.VM (Cisco Vulnerability Management): Reports an application’s risk posture with empirical metrics.
- CAIRIS: An open-source threat modeling tool allowing users to input various security, usability, and requirements data.
- Microsoft Threat Modeling Tool: Developed by Microsoft for early identification and mitigation of security issues.
The selection of a threat modeling tool should align with organizational needs and the characteristics of the system under analysis.
The following steps can guide the selection process:
- Identify your organization’s needs: Determine specific assets to protect, threats to mitigate, and risks to manage.
- Evaluate available techniques: Research and evaluate various threat modeling techniques based on their strengths and weaknesses.
- Select the appropriate technique: Choose the technique aligning with your organization’s needs, considering system complexity and available resources.
- Implement the technique: Integrate the chosen technique into your organization’s security development lifecycle.
- Review and update: Regularly review and update your threat modeling technique to ensure ongoing effectiveness and relevance.
