Instructor: In this lesson,
we will learn about the spoofing,
tampering, repudiation, information disclosure,
denial of service, and elevation of privilege,
or STRIDE framework.
The STRIDE framework is used to identify
and categorize potential security threats
across six categories, spoofing, tampering,
repudiation, information disclosure,
denial of service, and elevation of privilege.
Each of these categories
represents a different type of threat.
Spoofing involves impersonating another entity.
Tampering refers to unauthorized modification of data.
Repudiation deals with denying actions
after they have been performed.
Information disclosure
is the unauthorized release of sensitive data.
Denial of service disrupts system availability.
And elevation of privilege occurs
when a user gains higher access rights than intended.
The STRIDE framework is commonly used
during the design phase of software development
to evaluate security vulnerabilities
by examining how each threat category
could be exploited in a system.
Let's learn more about the STRIDE framework.
STRIDE framework is a threat-modeling tool
that helps identify and categorize
potential security threats in a system
focusing on six key threat types,
spoofing, tampering, repudiation,
information disclosure, denial of service,
and elevation of privilege,
where each category
represents a different kind of risk to consider.
Let's define each of these six key threat types
in further detail.
Spoofing is the act of impersonating another user
or system to gain unauthorized access.
Tampering refers to the unauthorized modifications
of data or processes often to alter outcomes
or inject harmful information.
Repudiation involves denying actions
after they've been performed,
posing challenges in establishing accountability.
Information disclosure is the unauthorized release
of sensitive information,
such as data leaks or breaches.
Denial of service focuses on attacks
that disrupt system availability,
causing the system to be unusable for legitimate users.
And, finally, elevation of privilege
is when an attacker gains higher access rights
than they should have,
potentially giving them control
over sensitive areas of a system.
Together, these six categories
cover a broad range of threats,
offering a comprehensive structure to evaluate security
and a structure that can serve as a useful guide
for teams in designing secure software systems.
Now let's walk through how to the STRIDE framework
in the design phase of software development.
Imagine you are developing a web application
and want to identify security risks early on.
Start by considering each STRIDE category.
For spoofing, evaluate if the system
could be vulnerable to user impersonation.
In this case, you may decide
to add multifactor authentication
to verify users' identities
to minimize the risk of spoofing.
Next, for tampering, examine the data inputs.
Weak input validation might allow
unauthorized data modifications,
so you could implement integrity checks to prevent this.
For repudiation, think about if and how users
could deny their actions within the application,
this might lead to implementing secure logging
to record and verify user actions.
Next, when assessing information disclosure,
consider any sensitive data handled by the application.
To protect this data,
you might ensure it's encrypted both in transit and at rest,
reducing exposure risk.
Then, with denial of service,
evaluate if any part of the application code
could be overwhelmed by excessive requests.
If so, you could set up rate limiting
to prevent a single user
from monopolizing resources maintaining availability.
And, finally, for elevation of privilege,
check if any functions or permissions
could be misused to gain unauthorized access.
If so, you might enforce role-based access controls
to limit actions based on user permissions,
keeping users within their intended access levels.
So by applying STRIDE during the design phase,
you can proactively identify and address
each category of potential threats,
creating a more secure application right from the start.
So remember, STRIDE framework is a security tool
that identifies and categorizes potential threats
into six areas, spoofing, tampering,
repudiation, information disclosure,
denial of service, and elevation of privilege.
Each category highlights a unique type of risk
from impersonation and data modification
to unauthorized access and denial of service.
Specifically, spoofing involves impersonating
a legitimate user or system,
while tampering deals with unauthorized data changes.
Next, repudiation concerns users denying their actions,
while information disclosure
involves exposing sensitive data.
Then, denial of service affects system availability,
and, finally, elevation of privilege
grants unauthorized high-level access.
So if used during software design,
STRIDE can help teams anticipate and address vulnerabilities
enhancing security from the ground up.