Best Practices for Threat Modeling
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As part of the “Best Practices” series by Uplatz
Welcome to a crucial installment of the Uplatz Best Practices series — enabling proactive, design-time security across your software lifecycle.
Today’s focus: Threat Modeling — identifying potential security risks before they become real-world vulnerabilities.
🧱 What is Threat Modeling?
Threat Modeling is the process of systematically identifying and assessing threats to an application, system, or architecture — typically before code is written or deployed.
It helps:
- Understand what can go wrong
- Prioritize security controls
- Reduce technical debt and breach risk
- Align security with design and business goals
Popular frameworks include:
- STRIDE (Spoofing, Tampering, Repudiation, Information Disclosure, Denial of Service, Elevation of Privilege)
- DREAD (Damage, Reproducibility, Exploitability, Affected Users, Discoverability)
- PASTA, OCTAVE, Trike
✅ Best Practices for Threat Modeling
Threat modeling isn’t just for security architects — it’s for every engineering team building critical systems. Here’s how to do it effectively:
1. Integrate Threat Modeling Early in the SDLC
🧱 Do It at Design Time — Not After Deployment
📅 Make It a Standard Part of Sprint Planning or Architecture Reviews
🛠 Use Diagrams and Architecture Docs as Starting Points
2. Use a Repeatable Framework
📘 Adopt STRIDE or PASTA Based on Complexity
🔁 Use the Same Model Across Teams for Consistency
🧰 Leverage Tools Like Microsoft Threat Modeling Tool, ThreatSpec, IriusRisk
3. Create Data Flow Diagrams (DFDs)
🗺️ Map All Inputs, Outputs, Trust Boundaries, and Interactions
🧩 Identify Where Data Crosses Security Zones
🔎 Document Assumptions, External Integrations, and Entry Points
4. Identify and Categorize Threats
🎯 Focus on Authentication, Authorization, Data Exposure, Injection, and Availability
🧠 Ask “What Could Go Wrong?” at Each Node
🧾 Classify Threats by Likelihood and Impact
5. Prioritize Threats with Risk Ratings
📊 Score Risks Based on CVSS or Custom Scales
🔥 Tackle High-Impact, High-Probability Threats First
🧮 Balance Technical Fixes with Business Justification
6. Propose and Document Mitigations
🔐 Map Each Threat to a Control (e.g., Encryption, MFA, Rate Limiting)
📘 Track Residual Risks and Assumptions
🔁 Feed Results into Test Cases and Code Reviews
7. Make Threat Modeling Collaborative
👥 Involve Developers, Architects, Security Engineers, and Product Managers
🧠 Use Workshops or Whiteboard Sessions, Not Just Solo Reviews
📚 Document Learnings for Future Reference
8. Automate Where Possible
🤖 Use Threat Modeling-as-Code for Infrastructure and APIs
📦 Integrate Tools With CI/CD and Architecture Diagrams
🔁 Use GitHub Actions, SAST/DAST Results to Trigger Re-Models
9. Review and Update Models Regularly
📅 Revisit Models When Features, Codebases, or Threat Landscapes Change
📈 Track Metrics: Time to Mitigate, Residual Risk Level, Coverage
🔄 Update DFDs and Threat Maps Alongside System Docs
10. Train Teams on Threat Thinking
🎓 Run Internal Threat Modeling Workshops and Simulations
🧩 Use Real Case Studies and Breach Scenarios
🛠 Equip Teams With Frameworks, Templates, and Tools
💡 Bonus Tip by Uplatz
Threat modeling isn’t about perfection — it’s about awareness.
If you design for failure, you’ll secure success. Start small, and improve iteratively.
🔁 Follow Uplatz to get more best practices in upcoming posts:
- Secure Design Patterns
- API Threat Surfaces
- Cloud-Native Threat Modeling
- IaC Security via Threat Modeling-as-Code
- Integrating STRIDE into Agile Workflows
…and 30+ more across security, cloud, architecture, and AI/ML pipelines.