Web Application Security, 2nd Edition

Chapter 24. Threat Modeling Applications

Threat modeling is a valuable method of improving your application’s security posture—if implemented correctly. With an improper or hasty implementation, threat modeling exercises do nothing but check boxes and waste valuable time.

When properly implemented, threat modeling allows software and security engineers to work together in a cohesive manner. The shared engineering and security workflow resulting from a well-implemented threat model allows companies to identify threats (e.g., potential vulnerabilities), threat actors (e.g., potential hackers), existing mitigations (e.g., security controls), and the delta between threats and mitigations.

A well-implemented threat modeling process, in addition to the preceding benefits, serves as a living document for rapidly and effectively handing off security knowledge from one engineer to another. It implements robustness in your organization’s security knowledge in a way not possible through most other methods.

While you don’t want to make use of a hastily implemented threat modeling process, learning how to design and implement a robust threat modeling workflow will dramatically improve your organization’s security posture in the long run.

Designing an Effective Threat Model

A proper threat model should be able to accomplish a number of goals. If all of these goals aren’t accomplished, the impact of the threat model is limited:

• Document knowledge

• Identify threat actors

• Identify risks ...