What is STRIDE and How Does It Anticipate Cyberattacks?

STRIDE threat modeling is an important tool in a security expert’s arsenal. Threat modeling provides security teams with a practical framework for dealing with a threat. For example, the STRIDE model offers a proven methodology of next steps. It can suggest what defenses to include, the likely attacker’s profile, likely attack vectors and the assets attackers want most. It can help find threats, rank which are most serious, schedule fixes and develop plans to secure IT resources.

Good threat modeling is more important than ever. And, every practical use of threat modeling is based on a specific methodology. Among them is STRIDE, one of the earliest and most effective.

What is STRIDE threat modeling?

STRIDE is an acronym for six threat categories: Spoofing identity, Tampering with data, Repudiation threats, Information disclosure, Denial of service and Elevation of privileges. Two Microsoft engineers, Loren Kohnfelder and Praerit Garg, developed STRIDE in the late 1990s.

Teams can use the STRIDE threat model to spot threats during the design phase of an app or system. The first step helps find potential threats using a proactive process. The design of the system forms the basis for spotting threats. The next steps include finding the risks inherent in the way the system has been implemented, and then taking actions to close gaps.

Specifically, STRIDE aims to ensure an app or system fulfills the CIA triad (confidentiality, integrity and availability). Its designers created it to ensure that Windows software developers considered threats during the design phase.

You should use STRIDE along with a model of the target system. Construct this model in parallel, including a breakdown of processes, data stores, data flows and trust boundaries.

Using STRIDE, develop defenses for each threat. For example, imagine you find that an admin database is exposed to tampering with data, information disclosure and denial-of-service threats. In that case, you can implement access control logs, secure socket layer/transport layer security or IPSec authentication to counter those threats.

Using STRIDE in the cloud

STRIDE threat modeling can also be used to counter emerging threats to cloud computing, which is becoming common in corporate America. Cloud computing has quite different needs than those of on-premises computing. By nature, it opens the system up to risks and threats that may not have an on-premises counterpart. These need to be assessed to avoid attacks.

To deal with these threats, use the STRIDE threat model to spot and apply fixes. It helps uncover monitoring, logging and alerting needs. Using STRIDE, develop defenses for each threat: authentication, data protection, confirmation, confidentiality, availability and authorization. Then, rank the emerging threats according to damage, reproducibility, exploitability, affected users and discoverability.

You can also employ the STRIDE threat model to find and repair threats to Internet of things (IoT) devices, which are now widely deployed in companies. Threat modeling helps teams to study the threats IoT devices face, to avoid opening it up to bugs and to find openings already in existing systems.

STRIDE threat modeling offers a way to organize the many possible threats facing enterprise today. It helps experts better prepare for future and emerging threats, and enables security teams to respond better to a changing world of threats.

Fred Donovan

Editor, Inside Security | Writer | Content Creator and Marketer

SIEM and SOAR in 2023: Key trends and new changes

4 min read - Security information and event management (SIEM) systems remain a key component of security operations centers (SOCs). Security orchestration, automation, and response (SOAR) frameworks, meanwhile, have emerged to fill the gap in these capabilities left by many SIEM systems. But as many companies have begun reaching the limits of SIEM and SOAR systems over the last few years, they have started turning to other solutions such as extended detection and response (XDR). But does this shift spell the end of SIEM…

Threat hunting 101: How to outthink attackers

6 min read - Threat hunting involves looking for threats and adversaries in an organization’s digital infrastructure that existing security tools don't detect. It is proactively looking for threats in the environment by assuming that the adversary is in the process of compromising the environment or has compromised the environment. Threat hunters can have different goals and mindsets while developing their hunt. For example, they can look for long-term threats in the environment that advanced threat actors can exploit. Or they can look for…

Vulnerability management, its impact and threat modeling methodologies

7 min read - Vulnerability management is a security practice designed to avoid events that could potentially harm an organization. It is a regular ongoing process that identifies, assesses, and manages vulnerabilities across all the components of an IT ecosystem. Cybersecurity is one of the major priorities many organizations struggle to stay on top of. There is a huge increase in the number of cyberattacks carried out by cybercriminals to steal valuable information from businesses. Hence to encounter these attacks, organizations are now focusing…

Bringing threat intelligence and adversary insights to the forefront: X-Force Research Hub

3 min read - Today defenders are dealing with both a threat landscape that’s constantly changing and attacks that have stood the test of time. Innovation and best practices co-exist in the criminal world, and one mustn’t distract us from the other. IBM X-Force is continuously observing new attack vectors and novel malware in the wild, as adversaries seek to evade detection innovations. But we also know that tried and true tactics — from phishing and exploiting known vulnerabilities to using compromised credentials and…

Security Intelligence

{{title}}

{{title}}

{{title}}

{{title}}

Topics

What is STRIDE threat modeling?

Using STRIDE in the cloud

More from Threat Hunting

SIEM and SOAR in 2023: Key trends and new changes

Threat hunting 101: How to outthink attackers

Vulnerability management, its impact and threat modeling methodologies

Bringing threat intelligence and adversary insights to the forefront: X-Force Research Hub