Overview
Threat modelling is the process of identifying and finding solutions to vulnerabilities and security threats in your software. It is a fundamental working practice of the modern software development team, one that enables teams to better reason about and protect their software systems from attack.
This intensive one-day workshop provides teams with the practical skills and collaborative frameworks needed to conduct effective threat modelling sessions. Through hands-on exercises and real-world scenarios, participants will learn to systematically identify potential threats, visualise attack surfaces and develop actionable mitigation strategies.
By the end of this workshop, teams will have a shared understanding of security thinking and the tools to embed threat modelling into their development workflows. We emphasise practical application through group exercises, moving teams beyond theoretical security concepts to confident implementation of threat modelling practices. The course is designed to build security awareness across the entire team - developers, designers, business analysts and QA engineers all benefit from attending together.
Outline
Understanding the security landscape
- Real-world examples of security breaches and their impact on organisations
- Data classification: cataloguing your data and understanding how it is stored and processed
- Navigating data protection regulations and compliance requirements (GDPR, CCPA, industry-specific standards)
- The business case for proactive security through threat modelling
Introduction to threat modelling
- Core advantages of performing threat modelling early and often in the development lifecycle
- Understanding the STRIDE framework as an example: Spoofing, Tampering, Repudiation, Information Disclosure, Denial of Service and Elevation of Privilege
- How threat modelling helps identify common vulnerability patterns before they reach production
- The relationship between threat modelling and secure design principles
- Identifying critical paths and high-value targets through systematic analysis
- Using threat models to drive security testing and validation strategies
- When to perform threat modelling: new features, architecture changes and periodic reviews
Creating Data Flow Diagrams
- Understanding the components of effective Data Flow Diagrams to visualise your system architecture
- Identifying system boundaries, trust boundaries and where sensitive data flows through your applications
- Mapping authentication and authorisation checkpoints
- Tools and techniques for collaborative diagram creation
Running threat modelling workshops
- Preparing for successful threat modelling sessions and structuring workshops for maximum engagement
- Facilitation techniques for inclusive participation across technical and non-technical team members
- Applying STRIDE systematically to identify potential threats
- Evaluating and prioritising threats based on likelihood and impact
- Generating practical, implementable mitigations for identified threats
- Converting threat model outputs into actionable security requirements and integrating them into development workflows
- Building a living threat model that evolves with your application
Requirements
This course is suitable for anyone working in software development: engineers, designers, business analysts, QA, product owners and technical leaders will all benefit from attending this course, ideally as a team.
Attendees should have at least 6 months of industry experience to get the most out of this course. It is a highly practical workshop with the significant majority of your time spent modelling and working collaboratively in groups. No prior security experience is required - we'll build the necessary security thinking throughout the day.