STRIDE (security)
STRIDE is a model for identifying computer security threats[1] developed by Praerit Garg and Loren Kohnfelder at Microsoft.[2] It provides a mnemonic for security threats in six categories.[3]
The threats are:
- Spoofing
- Tampering
- Repudiation
- Information disclosure (privacy breach or data leak)
- Denial of service
- Elevation of privilege[4]
The STRIDE was initially created as part of the process of threat modeling. STRIDE is a model of threats, used to help reason and find threats to a system. It is used in conjunction with a model of the target system that can be constructed in parallel. This includes a full breakdown of processes, data stores, data flows, and trust boundaries.[5]
Today it is often used by security experts to help answer the question "what can go wrong in this system we're working on?"
Each threat is a violation of a desirable property for a system:
| Threat | Desired property | Threat Definition |
|---|---|---|
| Spoofing | Authenticity | Pretending to be something or someone other than yourself |
| Tampering | Integrity | Modifying something on disk, network, memory, or elsewhere |
| Repudiation | Non-repudiability | Claiming that you didn't do something or were not responsible; can be honest or false |
| Information disclosure | Confidentiality | Providing information to someone not authorized to access it |
| Denial of service | Availability | Exhausting resources needed to provide service |
| Elevation of privilege | Authorization | Allowing someone to do something they are not authorized to do |
Notes on the threats
Repudiation is unusual because it's a threat when viewed from a security perspective, and a desirable property of some privacy systems, for example, Goldberg's "Off the Record" messaging system. This is a useful demonstration of the tension that security design analysis must sometimes grapple with.
Elevation of privilege is often called escalation of privilege, or privilege escalation. They are synonymous.
See also
- Attack tree – another approach to security threat modeling, stemming from dependency analysis
- Cyber security and countermeasure
- DREAD (risk assessment model) – another mnemonic for security threats
- OWASP – an organization devoted to improving web application security through education
- CIA also known as AIC[6][7] – another mnemonic for a security model to build security in IT systems
References
- Kohnfelder, Loren; Garg, Praerit (April 1, 1999). "The threats to our products". Microsoft Interface. Retrieved 13 April 2021.
- Shostack, Adam (27 August 2009). ""The Threats To Our Products"". Microsoft SDL Blog. Microsoft. Retrieved 18 August 2018.
- "The STRIDE Threat Model". Microsoft. Microsoft.
- Guzman, Aaron; Gupta, Aditya (2017). IoT Penetration Testing Cookbook: Identify Vulnerabilities and Secure your Smart Devices. Packt Publishing. pp. 34–35. ISBN 978-1-78728-517-0.
- Shostack, Adam (2014). Threat Modeling: Designing for Security. Wiley. pp. 61–64. ISBN 978-1118809990.
- "Key OT Cybersecurity Challenges: Availability, Integrity and Confidentiality". tripwire.com. Retrieved 2022-07-20.
- "What is the CIA Triad? Definition, Explanation and Examples". WhatIs.com. Retrieved 2022-05-01.