Threat Modeling
2025-01-01

Overview#

Systematic analysis of potential threats and mitigations during design. Uses methodologies like STRIDE, PASTA, or attack trees to prioritize controls.

Core objectives#

  • Establish shared definitions of Threat Modeling for security, engineering, and leadership teams.
  • Connect Threat Modeling activities to measurable risk reduction and resilience goals.
  • Provide onboarding notes so new team members can quickly understand how Threat Modeling works here.

Implementation notes#

  • Identify the primary owner for Threat Modeling, the data sources involved, and the systems affected.
  • Document the minimum viable process, tooling, and runbooks that keep Threat Modeling healthy.
  • Map Threat Modeling practices to standards such as ISO/IEC 27001, NIST CSF, or CIS Controls.

Operational signals#

  • Leading indicators: early warnings that Threat Modeling might degrade (e.g., backlog growth, noisy alerts, or missed SLAs).
  • Lagging indicators: realized impact that shows Threat Modeling failed or needs investment (e.g., incidents, audit findings).
  • Feedback loops: retrospectives and metrics reviews that tune Threat Modeling continuously.
  • Align Threat Modeling with defense-in-depth planning, threat modeling, and disaster recovery tests.
  • Communicate updates to stakeholders through concise briefs, dashboards, and internal FAQs.
  • Pair Threat Modeling improvements with tabletop exercises to validate expectations.