🧠 Threat Modeling

Methodology

1. 01

   System Decomposition

   Map the application architecture using Data Flow Diagrams — identifying components, data flows, trust boundaries, external entities, and entry/exit points.

2. 02

   Threat Enumeration

   Systematically identify threats using STRIDE (Spoofing, Tampering, Repudiation, Information Disclosure, Denial of Service, Elevation of Privilege) and PASTA frameworks, augmented with MITRE ATT&CK techniques and attack trees for complex scenarios.

3. 03

   Risk Assessment

   Assign likelihood and impact ratings to each identified threat, producing a prioritised risk register that distinguishes critical architectural risks from implementation-level issues.

4. 04

   Mitigation Design

   Design specific mitigations for each high and critical risk — security controls, architectural patterns, or process improvements aligned to NIST and OWASP guidance.

5. 05

   Documentation & Handoff

   Deliver the threat model document, DFDs, threat register, and architecture recommendations in a format that engineering teams can act on and compliance teams can reference.

What You Get

• ✓ Threat model document with annotated DFDs and trust boundaries
• ✓ Threat register with risk ratings and proposed mitigations
• ✓ Architecture-level security recommendations
• ✓ STRIDE/PASTA threat enumeration matrix
• ✓ Consultation follow-up (6-month window)

Frequently Asked

When should threat modeling be done?

Ideally at the design stage before any code is written — architectural changes are orders of magnitude cheaper at design time than post-deployment. However, a retrospective threat model on an existing system is still highly valuable for identifying architectural risks that routine VAPT does not surface, particularly trust boundary violations and design-level logic flaws.

What is the difference between STRIDE and PASTA?

STRIDE is a developer-friendly framework for systematically enumerating threats by category (Spoofing, Tampering, etc.) — ideal for technical teams reviewing specific components. PASTA is a risk-centric framework that aligns threats to business objectives and attacker motivations — ideal for executive reporting and prioritisation decisions. We use both in combination for comprehensive coverage.

Is threat modeling only useful for large enterprise applications?

No. A focused, lightweight threat model is valuable for any system that handles sensitive data — APIs, mobile backends, SaaS products, IoT devices, and microservice architectures. We scale the scope and depth to match your system's complexity and your team's capacity to act on findings.