You are in a security meeting. Someone mentions threat modeling. Everyone nods.
Then the silence hits.
"Where do we even start?"
That question feels paralyzing when your organization doesn't require threat modeling.
You start picturing comprehensive threat models for every system, every change, and every edge case. You think about time, effort, documentation, and how engineering teams are already overloaded. Suddenly the "great idea" becomes the "we will get to it eventually" idea.
Here is the better approach: stop trying to solve everything at once.
Start Pragmatically. Focus on Risk, Not Perfection.
Begin with two categories.
1️⃣ Anything New
New features, new technologies, new integrations, new processes. These carry risk because they introduce unknowns. A new API endpoint. A new authentication workflow. A new cloud service. A changed data pipeline.
Stop bolting on security afterwards. Build structured threat thinking into the work from the beginning.
2️⃣ Significant Changes to Existing Systems
Major updates, architectural shifts, migrations, or infrastructure changes deserve structured analysis. When you are changing something meaningful, threat modeling is not overhead. It is responsible engineering.
Ignore stable systems at first. That may feel uncomfortable if you come from a compliance-heavy background, but it aligns with how real security programs mature. Risk-based prioritization is consistent with NIST, PCI DSS, CSA CCM, FedRAMP, and most modern security expectations. It is also how you build something sustainable.
Accept "Good Enough" Early On
Your first threat models will not be perfect. Some will be rough. Some will miss things. You will discover gaps and refine them over time.
Learning isn't failure. Maturity takes time. Growth is progress.
Waiting for perfect tools, perfect processes, and perfect training often means you never actually begin. Meanwhile, your organization continues to ship meaningful change without any structured threat analysis. That's an order of magnitude more dangerous than doing "something".
A simple, imperfect threat model completed in 90 minutes beats a perfect threat model that never happens.
What This Looks Like in Practice
Start small and keep it simple.
- Build a lightweight template. Asset. Threat. Mitigation. That is enough to start.
- Hold focused working sessions. For each new capability or major change, get Product, Engineering, and one security partner in a room. Ninety minutes. Max.
- Document outcomes. Put them in your issue tracker. Treat mitigations as real work.
- Improve with each cycle.
Threat modeling doesn't replace pen testing or formal assessments. You are moving structured thinking earlier in the lifecycle. Teams will internalize the habit over time. Templates will improve. Discussions sharpen. Threat thinking becomes part of engineering culture instead of a special event.
Why This Works
Risk concentrates where change occurs. New initiatives and major modifications are where your attack surface expands. That is where threat modeling has the highest return for effort invested.
From a regulatory standpoint, this approach also aligns to expectations. NIST SP 800-53 (SA-11), PCI DSS 4.0 (6.2.1), CSA Cloud Controls Matrix (AIS-05, AIS-07, TVM-01), and others all expect structured threat analysis for system development and meaningful change. You're meeting an expectation in a rational way.
The Bigger Point
This lesson applies to far more than threat modeling. Perfection kills momentum. You don't need a fully mature, enterprise-grade program on day one. You need a working process, visible thinking, and feedback loops that make teams better.
Start with mitigating the introduction of new risk. Start with what the organization can sustain. Accept iteration.
Three months from now, you can either be in the same place… Or you can have completed threat models, real insights, better practices, and proof that the effort delivers value.
A functioning program always beats a perfect one that lives only in planning slides.
Where is your organization starting? What is the first "new thing" or major change you plan to pull into threat modeling? I would be interested to hear what works in your environment.
#Cybersecurity #ThreatModeling #AppSec #RiskManagement #DevSecOps #CISO
On LinkedIn:
- ▶ Introducing PROTECT - Article 1 showed how to do threat modeling comprehensively.
- ▶ Engineering Guide - Article 2 showed what questions actually matter when doing it.
- ▶ Authoritative Sources - Article 3 explains why threat modeling remains one of the strongest tools for meeting real-world security, regulatory, and assurance expectations.
- ▶ Just Do It - Article 4 challenges the industry's obsession with "perfect" programs and provides a pragmatic path to just get started.
