100% Quality Guarantee | Free Fix Verification | Concise Actionable Reporting

Our Methodology

Build safer software before attackers define the model for you

Our methodology focuses on the "shift left" paradigm. By auditing architectural logic, trust boundaries, and data flows early in the development lifecycle, we help identify design-level security risks before they become costly issues. This approach complements penetration testing and code review by uncovering potential vulnerabilities earlier and improving the overall security posture of the system.

William Park

FOUNDER, KNDW SHELTER SOLUTIONS AS

“We built Super Tanks on a simple principle: unsafe agent actions should be stopped before they execute, not explained after the damage is done. An independent threat model isn’t a stamp of approval - it’s a map of where to look. We’re grateful 7ASecurity gave us that map, and we’re using it to guide the next round of hardening.”

Design Flaws

Identify architectural weaknesses before they are built into the codebase.

Attack Surface

Visualize and shrink the digital footprint exposed to malicious actors.

Attack Paths

Trace the logical hops an attacker takes to reach your crown jewels.

Secure Engineering

Empower developers with a clear roadmap of security requirements.

Audits/Releases

Streamline compliance by proving 'Security by Design' to auditors.

The 7ASecurity Software Threat Modeling Method

We founded 7ASecurity in 2011 with a clear goal: security work should find real weaknesses and produce useful guidance, not generic paperwork. Our software threat models follow that same principle.

We combine structured methodology with attacker thinking. We use frameworks such as STRIDE where useful, but we do not treat threat modeling as a checkbox exercise. Our team looks at how your software is actually designed, how data moves, how components trust each other, how users and services interact, and how attackers could chain small weaknesses into meaningful impact.

When you work with our team, you get:
  • Custom scoping based on your product, architecture, maturity, budget, and release timelines.
  • Senior security review focused on realistic abuse cases, not theoretical noise.
  • Clear documentation that engineering teams can act on.
  • 100% Quality Guarantee
  • Free Fix Verification where applicable, so addressed weaknesses can be reviewed without paying twice to prove the fix worked.
  • Optional bug tracker integration if your team wants findings added directly into its workflow.
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The 7ASecurity Software Threat Modeling Method

What We Assess

Documentation
  • API Specifications (Swagger/OpenAPI)
  • Systen Architecture Diagrams
  • Authentication Flowcharts
Actors & Assets
  • Service principals & IAM Roles
  • PII & Sensitive Data Repositories
  • Privileged Admin Interfaces
Data Flows
  • Cross-Boundary Communications
  • Third-Party Webhooks & Ingestion
  • Encryption at Rest/Transit
AI-Agent Security

Specialized modeling for LLM-integrated systems, focusing on prompt injection, data leakage via RAG, and agentic autonomy risks.

Evaluates trust boundaries, tool permissions, approval workflows, and secure agent behavior.

Controls
  • WAF & API Gateway Policies
  • Rate Limiting & Circuit Breakers
  • Logging & Anomaly Detection

Our Software Threat Modeling Workflow

Software Threat Modeling is a structured approach to identifying security risks during the design phase of software development. Our workflow analyzes system architecture, data flows, trust boundaries, and potential attack paths to uncover design-level weaknesses and guide secure implementation decisions.

1
Scoping and architecture intake
2
Actor and asset mapping
3
Data flow and trust-boundary mapping
4
Threat identification
5
Control and attack-path review
6
Hardening roadmap & review

Strategic Comparison

Feature Threat Modeling Pentesting Code Review Supply Chain Audit
Best For Design Live Systems Source Code CI/CD
Focus Architecture Exploitation Implementation Security Build Security
Key Question What could go wrong? Can it be exploited? Is the code secure? Is the pipeline secure?
Finds Design Risks Vulnerabilities Code Flaws Process Risks
Deliverable Threat Model Test Report Review Report Audit Report
Ideal Stage Before Build Before Release During Dev Before Deployment

Who Needs a Software Threat Model?

We frequently support:

  • Product teams preparing for development cycles, architecture changes, or major releases.
  • Engineering teams requiring structured security input before implementation.
  • DevSecOps groups aligning architecture with secure design practices.
  • Security leads preparing for audits, assessments, or customer assurance reviews.
  • Founders and CTOs who need practical security guidance without slowing delivery.
  • Organizations adopting new technologies and requiring visibility into design-level risk.

What We Need to Start

The exact access depends on scope, but useful inputs usually include:

  • Architecture diagrams or a walkthrough of the system.
  • Product documentation or design notes.
  • API specifications, data flow notes, or integration maps.
  • Source code access where useful and approved.
  • Description of users, roles, privileged actions, and sensitive assets.
  • Known security concerns, previous findings, or upcoming release deadlines.
  • A technical contact who can answer questions during the engagement.

Frequently Asked Questions

A software threat model is a structured analysis of how attackers could abuse a software system’s architecture, dataflows, trust boundaries, actors, and controls.

It helps teams identify design-level risks before or after implementation and turns those risks into practical security recommendations.

No. A software threat model focuses on design and architecture, while a penetration test focuses on whether vulnerabilities can be exploited in a running system.

Both are valuable. Threat modeling is often most useful before launch or before major architectural decisions are finalized. Penetration testing is most useful once a system is deployed or testable.

Not always. A useful threat model can be produced from architecture diagrams, documentation, design walkthroughs, API specifications, and interviews.

Source code access can improve accuracy when the implementation details matter, but we will define the right level of access during scoping.

Yes. We can model risks in AI-agent and LLM-based systems, including tool permissions, memory, approval workflows, gateway enforcement, code execution, external integrations, and auditability.

The Super Tanks engagement is a good example of practical threat modeling for autonomous-agent governance.

The timeline depends on scope, documentation quality, system complexity, and how much interaction is needed with the engineering team.

A focused lightweight model can be short, while a complex platform with many integrations requires more time. We will define the expected effort during the free scoping discussion.

You receive clear documentation describing the model, key assets, actors, dataflows, trust boundaries, realistic threats, control gaps, and prioritized recommendations.

The goal is to give leadership enough context to understand risk and engineering teams enough detail to act.

Yes. If requested, we can add identified issues or recommendations into your bug tracking system so your team can manage remediation through its normal workflow.

Where applicable, we provide Free Fix Verification so addressed weaknesses can be reviewed without paying again just to confirm that remediation worked.

Threat modeling focuses on identifying what could go wrong in the design and architecture before or during development. Penetration testing focuses on determining whether vulnerabilities in a live system can actually be exploited.

Yes. Threat models can be reviewed and updated when architecture, data flows, technologies, integrations, user roles, or security controls change. This helps ensure the security model remains relevant as the product evolves.

Ready to Strengthen Your Software Security?

Identify design-level security risks before they become expensive production problems. Schedule a Software Threat Modeling engagement to understand how attackers could abuse your architecture, data flows, trust boundaries, APIs, and critical assets.

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Architecture-Focused Security Assessment

Evaluate your system architecture, actors and assets, data flows, trust boundaries, authentication mechanisms, integrations, security controls, and potential attack paths to uncover weaknesses before they are built into the product.

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Actionable Security Roadmap

Receive clear documentation of realistic abuse cases, design risks, attack paths, and recommended security controls so your engineering team has a practical roadmap for building and maintaining more secure software.

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