Threat Modeling
: A structured process for identifying potential security threats, vulnerabilities, and attack vectors in a system before they are exploited. Threat modeling examines the application architecture, data flows, trust boundaries, and potential attacker motivations to prioritize security efforts where they matter most.
Why It Matters for AI-Coded Apps
Vibe-coded apps are built fast without security architecture planning. Threat modeling forces you to think about what could go wrong before deploying. For AI-generated code, threat modeling is especially valuable because it identifies the trust boundaries and data flows that AI tends to implement insecurely.
Real-World Example
Using STRIDE on a vibe-coded SaaS: Spoofing (weak auth), Tampering (no input validation on API), Repudiation (no audit logging), Information Disclosure (verbose errors leak stack traces), Denial of Service (no rate limiting), Elevation of Privilege (missing server-side auth checks). Each threat maps to specific fixes.
How to Detect and Prevent It
Use the STRIDE framework to systematically identify threats. Draw data flow diagrams showing how user input travels through your application. Identify trust boundaries (where untrusted data enters). Prioritize threats by impact and likelihood. Create security requirements from identified threats. Revisit the threat model when architecture changes.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is STRIDE?
STRIDE is a threat modeling framework developed at Microsoft. Each letter represents a threat category: Spoofing (fake identity), Tampering (modifying data), Repudiation (denying actions), Information Disclosure (exposing data), Denial of Service (disrupting availability), Elevation of Privilege (gaining unauthorized access).
When should I do threat modeling?
Ideally during design, before writing code. For existing vibe-coded apps, do it before adding sensitive features (auth, payments, user data). At minimum: before launch, when adding new data flows, and when integrating third-party services. A lightweight threat model takes 1-2 hours for a typical app.
Is threat modeling overkill for small apps?
No. A lightweight threat model for a small app takes an hour and can identify critical issues before they become breaches. Even simple apps handle user data, authentication, and API calls – all potential attack vectors. The cost of a data breach far exceeds the time investment in threat modeling.
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