Early Lifecycle Cybersecurity Requirements Development Through Threat Modeling

This report reviews methods and guidelines related to threat modeling and proposes a threat modeling method that meets guidelines from the Department of the Air Force Systems Security Engineering Cyber Guidebook and integrates with well-established cybersecurity knowledge bases, catalogs, and other cybersecurity engineering methods. The proposed threat modeling method can be used during any stage of system acquisition and development. It enables programs to develop early requirements and guidelines for acquisition, identify critical components, make risk-based decisions, refine requirements throughout development, and verify and validate system cybersecurity throughout the lifecycle.

This report also provides an example of using this threat modeling method on a simple system with the commonly used publish-subscribe architectural pattern. The example demonstrates how the method can be used to evaluate cybersecurity threats, damages, and risks associated with architectural options early in a program’s lifecycle.