What is Threat Modeling: Process and Methodologies?

In the modern age of information technology, cybersecurity is still one of the most pressing concerns due to the increasing number of hacking occurrences. Because of the widespread digitization of so many facets of our life, both the public and private sectors stand to suffer significant losses in the event of a data breach.

Consequently, specialists in the field of cybersecurity are positioned to have various safeguards and preventative measures to ensure the safety of sensitive data and transactional records. It is a massive task, especially considering the sheer quantity and diversity of such assaults that are accessible today.

As a consequence of this, threat modeling is rapidly developing into a crucial component of the subject of cybersecurity. Let's take a more in-depth look at the process of threat modeling in cybersecurity, including what it is, why it's essential, and the various available ways.

Here are a few crucial factors to consider

• What exactly is meant by "threat modeling."

• The process of threat modeling

• Why do we need to simulate potential threats to our security?

• Methodologies for ten different types of threat modeling

What does "Threat Modeling" Mean?

The process of determining objectives, devising countermeasures, and detecting weaknesses to prevent assaults is known as threat modeling. It is an approach used to optimize network security.

Even though one can do threat modeling at any step of the development process, it is generally advised that security teams undertake it at the beginning of the project. It is because it gives them the most time to do it. This way, possible threats can be identified earlier and mitigated before they become an issue before it ever has a chance to manifest themselves.

The Process of Modeling Potential Dangers

Determining the value of a company's assets, the function of each program, and creating a security profile for each application are all parts of threat modeling. The following stage entails prioritizing the level of risk posed by various potential threats. Then, the adverse events and their subsequent fixes need to be recorded.

The term "threat modeling" refers to analyzing the vulnerabilities of a company's digital and network assets, categorizing the risks they face, and developing a strategy to protect those assets and restore them in the event of an attack.

You may be astonished to learn how little attention is paid to security in some industries, even though it may seem obvious.

Why is it Necessary to curb Potential Dangers?

How much do we need to innovate new approaches to cybersecurity, like threat modeling, to deal with the current state of the industry?

In recent years, Online communities have incurred high costs due to cybercrime. Security Boulevard pulls its conclusions from various industry sources to arrive at its findings.

According to the Security Threats and Trends study by KnowBe4, 75% of firms are concerned about insider threats, and 85% of organizations have been affected by phishing and social engineering attacks. Because of these alarming numbers, it is anticipated that the total amount spent on cybersecurity goods and services will exceed one trillion dollars by 2021.

Methodologies for Modeling Ten Different Threats

There are many different kinds of cyber-attacks and approaches to combat cybercrime. For example, the following list of 10 major threat modeling approaches is utilized today -

STRIDE

Developed by Microsoft as a technique for threat modeling, it provides a mnemonic for classifying potential security risks into the following six categories

• An attacker that poses as another person, component, or other system feature that includes an identity in the modeled system is said to be engaging in spoofing.

• Tampering or manipulating data stored inside a system to accomplish a dishonest objective.

• Repudiation refers to an intruder's capacity to deny that he engaged in some harmful conduct owing to a lack of sufficient evidence to support the accusation.

• Information Disclosure is the act of making confidential information accessible to a person who is not authorized to see it.

DREAD

Because of the inconsistent scores, Microsoft decided against utilizing it for threat modeling in 2008. OpenStack is one of the many businesses that are currently using DREAD. At its core, it is a system for analyzing and prioritizing the following five categories of security threats

• Harm Potential is a ranking of the amount of damage that may be caused by a vulnerability being exploited.

• The degree to which one can replicate an assault easily is referred to as its reproducibility.

• Exploitability gives a numeric value to the work required to carry out the attack.

• A metric that represents the number of people affected if an exploit is made publicly accessible is called the "affected users."

• Discoverability is a measurement that determines how simple it is to find out about a hazard.

P.A.S.T.A

P.A.S.T.A is an acronym for "Process for Attack Simulation and Threat Analysis," a seven-step approach that emphasizes minimizing risk. It provides a mechanism for the dynamic detection, enumeration, and evaluation of threats. After specialists have created a thorough study of the risks discovered, developers may construct an asset-centric mitigation approach by seeing the application from the attacker's perspective.

Trike

Threat models are at the heart of Trike's approach to risk management. The "acceptable" level of risk for each asset type is established using threat models informed by the requirement of models. Threats are detected and assigned risk levels in a threat model that results from analyzing a requirements model. Once the threat model is complete, one may construct a risk model that considers potential courses of action, assets, roles, and estimated risk exposure.

VAST

It stands for Visual, Agile, and Simple Threat modeling, generating valuable results for many users, including app developers, security analysts, and others. As a result of VAST's innovative application and infrastructure visualization strategy, users of all skill levels may build and use threat models without needing to learn about or have experience with security protocols.

Plant an Ambush

The tree is a conceptual picture that begins with a root node and expands to include additional nodes representing branches and potential attack vectors. Each child node represents criteria that must be satisfied for the parent node to be present. Only the nodes that are direct children of a given node will suffice. There are also the alternatives "AND" and "OR," which stand for different ways of doing the same thing.

Conclusion

Threat modeling is a proactive technique for analyzing cybersecurity risks. The steps involved in this procedure include identifying potential threats and developing countermeasures. To do this, one must be aware of the many ways in which threats might affect systems, be able to classify these threats and use appropriate countermeasures.

The standard five-step process for threat modeling includes the following

• Gathering threat data.

• Cataloging assets.

• Determining mitigation strategies.

• Analyzing risks.

• Drawing out a map of potential dangers.

You may get different perspectives and levels of awareness of your security situation from each of these.