Threat modeling for applications is a structured process for identifying, quantifying, and prioritizing potential security threats to software systems. By analyzing application architecture, data flows, trust boundaries, and potential adversary capabilities during the design phase, threat modeling identifies security risks early when they are cheapest to address and ensures security controls are designed into the application rather than bolted on after development.
Threat modeling follows established frameworks. STRIDE categorizes threats by type: Spoofing identity, Tampering with data, Repudiation, Information disclosure, Denial of service, and Elevation of privilege. The process begins with creating a data flow diagram that maps application components, data stores, data flows, and trust boundaries. For each element in the diagram, analysts systematically identify potential threats using the chosen framework. Each identified threat is evaluated for likelihood and impact, then prioritized for mitigation. Mitigations map to specific security controls: authentication counters spoofing, integrity checks counter tampering, logging counters repudiation, encryption counters information disclosure, availability controls counter denial of service, and authorization counters elevation of privilege. PASTA (Process for Attack Simulation and Threat Analysis) provides a risk-centric seven-stage methodology. Attack trees decompose high-level threats into specific attack paths. Threat modeling integrates into agile development through incremental analysis of new features and architectural changes, with the initial model serving as a living document that evolves with the application.
Without threat modeling, security controls are applied reactively based on discovered vulnerabilities rather than proactively based on architectural analysis. This leads to inconsistent protection, missed threats, and expensive remediation when design-level flaws are discovered late. Threat modeling is the only security activity that systematically identifies what could go wrong before code is written, enabling security-by-design rather than security-by-patching.
CDA embeds threat modeling within RGA (Risk Governance and Assurance) domain operations. Theater missions facilitate threat modeling workshops for development teams, produce threat models aligned with organizational threat intelligence, and integrate threat modeling outputs into security testing priorities across VSD assessments.