Threat Modeling & Risk Assessment Flashcards

Which element of a threat model defines the channel over which an adversary communicates with a target system?

Answer: Attack vector

The attack vector describes the path or means by which a threat actor delivers an attack, such as network, physical access, or supply chain.

In risk assessment, 'residual risk' is defined as the risk that remains after:

Answer: Security controls have been applied

Residual risk is the level of risk that persists after all planned mitigation controls have been implemented and accepted.

A web application stores session tokens in URL query parameters. Which STRIDE threat does this most directly introduce?

Answer: Information Disclosure

Tokens in URLs are logged by servers, proxies, and browser history, exposing session credentials — a classic Information Disclosure threat.

Which CVSS v3 metric group captures environmental factors specific to the organization deploying the software?

Answer: Environmental metric group

The Environmental metric group allows organizations to adjust CVSS scores based on their specific deployment context, such as the importance of the affected system.

In threat modeling, 'attack surface reduction' is best achieved by:

Answer: Eliminating or disabling unnecessary features, protocols, and entry points

Attack surface reduction means minimizing the number of pathways an attacker can use — achieved by removing unused features, APIs, services, and ports.

Which threat modeling artifact explicitly captures assumptions about the security posture of external dependencies?

Answer: Threat model assumptions log

A threat model assumptions log records beliefs about the environment (e.g., 'the database server is on a trusted network') so they can be reviewed and challenged.

Under the STRIDE model, which mitigation technique most directly addresses the 'Repudiation' threat?

Answer: Secure audit logging and digital signatures

Repudiation threats are countered by tamper-evident audit logs and digital signatures that prove who performed an action and when.