Threat Modeling ISE Practice Questions (Page 7)

Questions 31–35

1. 31application · medium

   A smart warehouse company completed a threat model for its inventory tracking system. The team identified a medium-risk threat involving unauthorized access to the inventory database. The project manager wants to communicate the threat model to the warehouse operations team, who are not security experts. What is the most effective way to present the threat?

   • AShow the STRIDE category and DREAD score for the threat.
   • BAsk the operations team to read the full threat model document.
   • CExplain the threat in terms of business impact, such as potential loss of inventory data and operational disruption, and describe the recommended control.
   • DProvide a list of all possible attack vectors and their technical details.
   Reveal Solution Discussion Select an answer first
2. 32expert · hard

   A threat modeling team has completed a detailed analysis of a smart building system and produced a lengthy technical report. The facility manager, who is not technical, needs to understand the top risks and approve a budget for mitigations. The team also needs to ensure that developers can act on the findings. What is the most effective way to communicate the threat model to both audiences?

   • ASend the full technical report to the facility manager and ask them to read it.
   • BCreate a one-page executive summary with a risk heat map and a separate detailed technical document for developers.
   • CHold a single meeting with all stakeholders and verbally walk through the entire report.
   • DPresent only the mitigation recommendations to the facility manager and skip the technical details.
   Reveal Solution Discussion Select an answer first
4. 33application · medium

   A smart building company uses DREAD to score threats to its IoT access-control system. Threat A: an attacker can remotely unlock doors by exploiting a firmware vulnerability (scores: Damage 9, Reproducibility 8, Exploitability 7, Affected Users 8, Discoverability 5). Threat B: an attacker can cause a temporary denial of service by flooding the management interface (scores: Damage 4, Reproducibility 9, Exploitability 9, Affected Users 6, Discoverability 8). Which threat should be prioritized for mitigation, and why?

   • AThreat B, because it is more easily reproduced and exploited, making it more likely to occur in practice.
   • BBoth threats equally, because they have nearly identical total scores and should be addressed simultaneously.
   • CThreat A, because its total DREAD score is higher and the potential damage to physical security is greater.
   • DNeither threat, because DREAD scores are subjective and should be replaced with a qualitative high/medium/low rating.
   Reveal Solution Discussion Select an answer first
5. 34application · medium

   A smart-building vendor is threat modeling a new IoT access-control system. The system includes edge controllers that manage door locks, a cloud backend for credential management, and a mobile app for administrators. The team wants to systematically identify threats by examining each component's interactions and data flows, focusing on spoofing, tampering, repudiation, information disclosure, denial of service, and elevation of privilege. Which approach should the team use?

   • AUse DREAD to score each asset's exposure after listing all assets.
   • BApply STRIDE to each data flow between the mobile app, edge controller, and cloud backend.
   • CCreate a data flow diagram and then apply PASTA to align with business objectives.
   • DBuild an attack tree with the root goal of unauthorized door access and enumerate attack paths.
   Reveal Solution Discussion Select an answer first
6. 35expert · hard

   A security engineer is threat modeling a smart home system with a central hub, multiple sensors, and a cloud service. The team has identified a threat where an attacker could send malicious commands to the hub via the internet. They need to decide on a mitigation. The team is considering using STRIDE to categorize the threat and then develop a mitigation. Which mitigation is most appropriate for the threat of unauthorized command injection?

   • AEncrypt all communication between the hub and the cloud.
   • BAdd a firewall to block all incoming traffic to the hub.
   • CImplement strong authentication and authorization for all commands sent to the hub.
   • DUse a longer encryption key for the hub's communication.
   Reveal Solution Discussion Select an answer first