LECTURE 3: UNDERSTAND AND APPLY THREAT MODELING CONCEPTS AND METHODOLOGIES

Threat modeling is a security process used to:

• Identify possible threats.

• Analyze how those threats could exploit vulnerabilities

• Find out how valuable assets could be harmed.

• Choose security controls to protect them.

Its goal is to prevent security problems before attacks happen.

ASSET

An asset is any element that has a value for organization.

A resource, process, product, computing infrastructure, and so forth that an organization has determined must be protected.

THREAT

The presence of any potential event that causes an unwanted impact on the organization

ATTACK

The presence of any actual event that causes an unwanted impact on the organization.

VULNERABILITY

The absence of safeguard OR a system weakness might be used by threat to cause a damage to the system.

THREAT AGENT

The entity ( a person or process) initiates the threat.

EXPLOIT

if the vulnerability found by threat agent and threat initiated.

Threats: Potential events that may cause harm. These are the types of Threats

• Cyber attacks

• Malware

• Phishing

• DoS

• Supply chain attacks

Vulnerabilities: Weaknesses that can be exploited.

• People: Lack of awareness, weak authentication.

• Process: Poor policies, misconfiguration.

• Technology: Software bugs, unpatched systems

Assets: Anything of value to the organization.

• Data

• Systems

• Services

• Infrastructure

• Reputation

Remember: Threats exploit vulnerabilities and impact assets.

CONTROL / COUNTERMEASURE / SAFEGUARD

• Any step/action to prevent the threat exploiting the vulnerability.

• (OR): Minimize the damage of the exploit

RISK ELEMENTS

A risk is the possibility or likelihood that a threat will exploit a vulnerability resulting in a loss such as harm to an asset.

Risk management

Risk management uses controls to reduce vulnerabilities and minimize threat impacts.

Risk elements are:

• Threat

• Vulnerability

• Asset

• Damage

Threat modeling can be performed as:

Proactively

• During system design and development

• So, Security is built in from the start

Reactively

• After deployment or after incidents

• Based on observed attacks or failures

Proactive (Defensive) Approach:

Planning for security before building. You predict potential attacks and build defenses right into the system while designing and coding it. Security is built-in from day one.

Reactive (Adversarial) Approach:

Fixing security after building. You add defenses or patches only after the product is already live or after an attack has occurred.

Which approach is the preferred one:

Proactive threat modeling is the preferred and more effective approach.