Threat Modeling Services: Address Security Concerns
Table of Contents
What is Threat Modeling?
Whether you are a developer or a software project manager, threat modeling services can help you recognize and rule out cyber threats. Are you wondering what this process is and how to go about it? You are at the right place, as here is where all your questions about will be answered.
In this article, you will get a hold of the frameworks, tactics, tools, and practices to identify and regulate software threats.
Threat Modeling service is essentially a systematized process that the IT professionals draw on to ascertain the possible security threats. It is followed by weighing the severity or depth of the risk and sketching techniques to alleviate the attack.
On the whole, it a practice of identifying, using techniques to cope with and alleviate cyber-attacks to protect IT resources. However, the factor worth bearing in mind is threat modeling is a concrete, well-structured process.
That said, you will have to use varying techniques (discussed later) depending upon the situation and kind of threat. In these terms, you can call threat modeling more of an art than science.
Why Use Threat Modeling – Potential Benefits
Before going to the exciting part of how to use this amazing technique, here is why use threat modeling.
Helps you detect a glitch in the early phase of the software development life cycle.- Uncovers the design flaws that a conventional technique may overlook.
- Identifies new types of attacks that you may not be aware of.
- Lets you address the threats and outline a mitigation process.
- Saves time, money, and efforts.
- Aids in building well-secured application software.
How to Use Threat Modeling?
- Step 1:Identify the assets, i.e., the significant data that you need to secure.
- Step 2:Summarize the particulars of the framework where the asset is being dealt with.
- Step 3:Dismantle the application process (preferably by creating a data flow diagram).
- Step 4:Determine and enlist the threats that you have to mitigate.
- Step 5:Categorize the threats so you can identify them in a standardized manner.
- Step 6: Scale the threat based on its weightiness.
What Threat Modeling Methodologies to Use?
Your main threat modeling approach for your Threat Modeling Services will depend on the framework (or methodology) you use. Though there are a whole lot of these methods, here are the 7 top ones.
STRIDE
STRIDE is one of the most conventional yet highly-useful threat modeling methodologies, standing for six divisions of threats.
- Spoofing: impersonation of identity.
- Tampering: altering data on hardware or network.
- Repudiation: denying or retracting an action you committed.
- Information disclosure: exposing or leaking sensitive content.
- Denial of service: making an amenity/service unavailable.
- Elevation of privilege: obtaining unauthorized access to systems.
PASTA
PASTA (Process for Attack Simulation and Threat Analysis) is a well-structured, 7-step procedure. You can use it to implement security measures to mitigate threats.
- Define clear objectives
- State the technical scope
- Dismantling and analysis of the application
- Determining and evaluating the threat
- Analyzing the weak points
- Modeling to track the attack path
- Analysis of the attack’s depth and impact
OCTAVE
Operationally Critical Threat and Vulnerability Evaluation (OCTAVE) is a method for handling security risks by an organization. OCTAVE has three phases:
- Construct threat outlines based on the asset
- Identify the infrastructure weaknesses
- Create a security blueprint to deal with the threat
DREAD
It is primarily a method to rate the threats that you have already identified. DREAD stands for 5 questions you need to answer to rank the threat.
- Damage potential: the depth of the attack.
- Reproducibility: ease of reproducing the threat.
- Exploitability: ease of launching the attack.
- Affected users: number or percentage of affected users.
- Discoverability: ease of ascertaining the threat.
Trike
Trike is a framework that functions from a risk-management, defensive viewpoint. In this method, you start by evaluating the system’s components and assigning them to different cells. Each of these cells is further divided into 4 sections—creating, reading, updating, and deleting (CRUD).
Next, you have to construct a data flow diagram to identify threats and categorize them as elevations of privilege or denials of service.
Next, you have to construct a data flow diagram to identify threats and categorize them as elevations of privilege or denials of service.
VAST
It is the Visual, Agile, and simple Threat Modeling framework that is basically established upon ThreatModeler—programmed thread modeling portal. VAST requires you to construct two types of models:
- Application threat model: uses the process-flow diagrams to portray the structural outlook.
- Operational threat model: uses the attacker perspective to construct a data flow diagram.
When to Use Threat Modeling – Do’s and Don’ts
Irrespective of the methodology you use, there are few key points you need to bear in mind for Threat Modeling Services.
Do’s
- Make threat modeling as a “Must Have” activity at the design phase of your Product or Software Development.
- Always remember that Threat Actors can originate both internally, externally and through the Supply Chain.
- Constantly review and update the threat modeling diagrams whenever there is a security incident
- Refer to the Threat Modeling diagrams throughout the development lifecycle.
- Include a Cybersecurity expert in your Threat Modeling process
- Focus on Risks that are real and manageable.
Don’ts
- Do not assume old and legacy systems cannot be included in Threat Modeling.
- Never assume your Threat Model is complete and you have imagined every potential threat and risk.
Threat Modeling Tools
Examples of Tools:
Wrap Up
One of the key steps to developing software is ensuring it stays free of attacks. This requires meticulous analysis and identification of vulnerabilities to prevent any fraudulent activities. That is where Threat Modeling steps in.
Though it is a complicated process, it is concrete and result-oriented, carefully guiding you through each step. From the identification and categorizing to finding ways to mitigate and analyze, threat modeling is your one-stop-solution to dealing with cyber threats.
That said, you must use it cautiously and at the correct time, i.e., the initial development phase for lucrative results!