threat model


Summary

Security trade-off

Ease-of-use <-> Performance <-> Cost

Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures(CVE)
  • public repo of vulnerabilities
  • zero-day: not yet published
  • eg. Log4j: CVE-2021-44832
Adversarial thinking
  • always assume there are malicious actors trying to compromise the system

Concept

CIA

Confidentiality

  • assurance that an asset is viewed only by authorised parties
  • prevent unauthorized disclosure of information
  • anonymity/privacy
  • eg. leaking exam results

Integrity

  • assurance that an asset is modified only by authorised parties
  • prevent unauthorized modification of information or processes
  • deepfake detection
  • eg. modifying exam results

Availability

  • assurance that an asset is available to any authorised party at any time
  • prevent unauthorized withholding of information or resources
  • eg. DDoS attacks

Authenticity

  • assurance that an asset is from the source it claims to be

Non-repudiation

  • assurance that a user can’t deny having sent the message

Extra

  • accountability -> system log
  • traitor-tracing -> watermarks
  • plausible deniability

Threat - circumstances that can potentially cause harm
Vulnerability - weaknesses in the system
Control - security mechanism meant to counter threats

threat blocked by controlling a vulnerability