Senior Security Engineer
Security engineering tools for threat modeling, vulnerability analysis, secure architecture design, and penetration testing.
Table of Contents
- Threat Modeling Workflow
- Security Architecture Workflow
- Vulnerability Assessment Workflow
- Secure Code Review Workflow
- Incident Response Workflow
- Security Tools Reference
- Tools and References
Threat Modeling Workflow
Identify and analyze security threats using STRIDE methodology.
Workflow: Conduct Threat Model
- Define system scope and boundaries:
- Identify assets to protect
- Map trust boundaries
- Document data flows
- Create data flow diagram:
- External entities (users, services)
- Processes (application components)
- Data stores (databases, caches)
- Data flows (APIs, network connections)
- Apply STRIDE to each DFD element:
- Spoofing: Can identity be faked?
- Tampering: Can data be modified?
- Repudiation: Can actions be denied?
- Information Disclosure: Can data leak?
- Denial of Service: Can availability be affected?
- Elevation of Privilege: Can access be escalated?
- Score risks using DREAD:
- Damage potential (1-10)
- Reproducibility (1-10)
- Exploitability (1-10)
- Affected users (1-10)
- Discoverability (1-10)
- Prioritize threats by risk score
- Define mitigations for each threat
- Document in threat model report
- Validation: All DFD elements analyzed; STRIDE applied; threats scored; mitigations mapped
STRIDE Threat Categories
| Category | Description | Security Property | Mitigation Focus | |----------|-------------|-------------------|------------------| | Spoofing | Impersonating users or systems | Authentication | MFA, certificates, strong auth | | Tampering | Modifying data or code | Integrity | Signing, checksums, validation | | Repudiation | Denying actions | Non-repudiation | Audit logs, digital signatures | | Information Disclosure | Exposing data | Confidentiality | Encryption, access controls | | Denial of Service | Disrupting availability | Availability | Rate limiting, redundancy | | Elevation of Privilege | Gaining unauthorized access | Authorization | RBAC, least privilege |
STRIDE per Element Matrix
| DFD Element | S | T | R | I | D | E | |-------------|---|---|---|---|---|---| | External Entity | X | | X | | | | | Process | X | X | X | X | X | X | | Data Store | | X | X | X | X | | | Data Flow | | X | | X | X | |
See: references/threat-modeling-guide.md
Security Architecture Workflow
Design secure systems using defense-in-depth principles.
Workflow: Design Secure Architecture
- Define security requirements:
- Compliance requirements (GDPR, HIPAA, PCI-DSS)
- Data classification (public, internal, confidential, restricted)
- Threat model inputs
- Apply defense-in-depth layers:
- Perimeter: WAF, DDoS protection, rate limiting
- Network: Segmentation, IDS/IPS, mTLS
- Host: Patching, EDR, hardening
- Application: Input validation, authentication, secure coding
- Data: Encryption at rest and in transit
- Implement Zero Trust principles:
- Verify explicitly (every request)
- Least privilege access (JIT/JEA)
- Assume breach (segment, monitor)
- Configure authentication and authorization:
- Identity provider selection
- MFA requirements
- RBAC/ABAC model
- Design encryption strategy:
- Key management approach
- Algorithm selection
- Certificate lifecycle
- Plan security monitoring:
- Log aggregation
- SIEM integration
- Alerting rules
- Document architecture decisions
- Validation: Defense-in-depth layers defined; Zero Trust applied; encryption strategy documented; monitoring planned
Defense-in-Depth Layers
Layer 1: PERIMETER
WAF, DDoS mitigation, DNS filtering, rate limiting
Layer 2: NETWORK
Segmentation, IDS/IPS, network monitoring, VPN, mTLS
Layer 3: HOST
Endpoint protection, OS hardening, patching, logging
Layer 4: APPLICATION
Input validation, authentication, secure coding, SAST
Layer 5: DATA
Encryption at rest/transit, access controls, DLP, backup
Authentication Pattern Selection
| Use Case | Recommended Pattern | |----------|---------------------| | Web application | OAuth 2.0 + PKCE with OIDC | | API authentication | JWT with short expiration + refresh tokens | | Service-to-service | mTLS with certificate rotation | | CLI/Automation | API keys with IP allowlisting | | High security | FIDO2/WebAuthn hardware keys |
See: references/security-architecture-patterns.md
Vulnerability Assessment Workflow
Identify and remediate security vulnerabilities in applications.
Workflow: Conduct Vulnerability Assessment
- Define assessment scope:
- In-scope systems and applications
- Testing methodology (black box, gray box, white box)
- Rules of engagement
- Gather information:
- Technology stack inventory
- Architecture documentation
- Previous vulnerability reports
- Perform automated scanning:
- SAST (static analysis)
- DAST (dynamic analysis)
- Dependency scanning
- Secret detection
- Conduct manual testing:
- Business logic flaws
- Authentication bypass
- Authorization issues
- Injection vulnerabilities
- Classify findings by severity:
- Critical: Immediate exploitation risk
- High: Significant impact, easier to exploit
- Medium: Moderate impact or difficulty
- Low: Minor impact
- Develop remediation plan:
- Prioritize by risk
- Assign owners
- Set deadlines
- Verify fixes and document
- Validation: Scope defined; automated and manual testing complete; findings classified; remediation tracked
OWASP Top 10 Mapping
| Rank | Vulnerability | Testing Approach | |------|---------------|------------------| | A01 | Broken Access Control | Manual IDOR testing, authorization checks | | A02 | Cryptographic Failures | Algorithm review, key management audit | | A03 | Injection | SAST + manual payload testing | | A04 | Insecure Design | Threat modeling, architecture review | | A05 | Security Misconfiguration | Configuration audit, CIS benchmarks | | A06 | Vulnerable Components | Dependency scanning, CVE monitoring | | A07 | Authentication Failures | Password policy, session management review | | A08 | Software/Data Integrity | CI/CD security, code signing verification | | A09 | Logging Failures | Log review, SIEM configuration check | | A10 | SSRF | Manual URL manipulation testing |
Vulnerability Severity Matrix
| Impact / Exploitability | Easy | Moderate | Difficult | |-------------------------|------|----------|-----------| | Critical | Critical | Critical | High | | High | Critical | High | Medium | | Medium | High | Medium | Low | | Low | Medium | Low | Low |
Secure Code Review Workflow
Review code for security vulnerabilities before deployment.
Workflow: Conduct Security Code Review
- Establish review scope:
- Changed files and functions
- Security-sensitive areas (auth, crypto, input handling)
- Third-party integrations
- Run automated analysis:
- SAST tools (Semgrep, CodeQL, Bandit)
- Secret scanning
- Dependency vulnerability check
- Review authentication code:
- Password handling (hashing, storage)
- Session management
- Token validation
- Review authorization code:
- Access control checks
- RBAC implementation
- Privilege boundaries
- Review data handling:
- Input validation
- Output encoding
- SQL query construction
- File path handling
- Review cryptographic code:
- Algorithm selection
- Key management
- Random number generation
- Document findings with severity
- Validation: Automated scans passed; auth/authz reviewed; data handling checked; crypto verified; findings documented
Security Code Review Checklist
| Category | Check | Risk | |----------|-------|------| | Input Validation | All user input validated and sanitized | Injection | | Output Encoding | Context-appropriate encoding applied | XSS | | Authentication | Passwords hashed with Argon2/bcrypt | Credential theft | | Session | Secure cookie flags set (HttpOnly, Secure, SameSite) | Session hijacking | | Authorization | Server-side permission checks on all endpoints | Privilege escalation | | SQL | Parameterized queries used exclusively | SQL injection | | File Access | Path traversal sequences rejected | Path traversal | | Secrets | No hardcoded credentials or keys | Information disclosure | | Dependencies | Known vulnerable packages updated | Supply chain | | Logging | Sensitive data not logged | Information disclosure |
Secure vs Insecure Patterns
| Pattern | Issue | Secure Alternative | |---------|-------|-------------------| | SQL string formatting | SQL injection | Use parameterized queries with placeholders | | Shell command building | Command injection | Use subprocess with argument lists, no shell | | Path concatenation | Path traversal | Validate and canonicalize paths | | MD5/SHA1 for passwords | Weak hashing | Use Argon2id or bcrypt | | Math.random for tokens | Predictable values | Use crypto.getRandomValues |
Incident Response Workflow
Respond to and contain security incidents.
Workflow: Handle Security Incident
- Identify and triage:
- Validate incident is genuine
- Assess initial scope and severity
- Activate incident response team
- Contain the threat:
- Isolate affected systems
- Block malicious IPs/accounts
- Disable compromised credentials
- Eradicate root cause:
- Remove malware/backdoors
- Patch vulnerabilities
- Update configurations
- Recover operations:
- Restore from clean backups
- Verify system integrity
- Monitor for recurrence
- Conduct post-mortem:
- Timeline reconstruction
- Root cause analysis
- Lessons learned
- Implement improvements:
- Update detection rules
- Enhance controls
- Update runbooks
- Document and report
- Validation: Threat contained; root cause eliminated; systems recovered; post-mortem complete; improvements implemented
Incident Severity Levels
| Level | Description | Response Time | Escalation | |-------|-------------|---------------|------------| | P1 - Critical | Active breach, data exfiltration | Immediate | CISO, Legal, Executive | | P2 - High | Confirmed compromise, contained | 1 hour | Security Lead, IT Director | | P3 - Medium | Potential compromise, under investigation | 4 hours | Security Team | | P4 - Low | Suspicious activity, low impact | 24 hours | On-call engineer |
Incident Response Checklist
| Phase | Actions | |-------|---------| | Identification | Validate alert, assess scope, determine severity | | Containment | Isolate systems, preserve evidence, block access | | Eradication | Remove threat, patch vulnerabilities, reset credentials | | Recovery | Restore services, verify integrity, increase monitoring | | Lessons Learned | Document timeline, identify gaps, update procedures |
Security Tools Reference
Recommended Security Tools
| Category | Tools | |----------|-------| | SAST | Semgrep, CodeQL, Bandit (Python), ESLint security plugins | | DAST | OWASP ZAP, Burp Suite, Nikto | | Dependency Scanning | Snyk, Dependabot, npm audit, pip-audit | | Secret Detection | GitLeaks, TruffleHog, detect-secrets | | Container Security | Trivy, Clair, Anchore | | Infrastructure | Checkov, tfsec, ScoutSuite | | Network | Wireshark, Nmap, Masscan | | Penetration | Metasploit, sqlmap, Burp Suite Pro |
Cryptographic Algorithm Selection
| Use Case | Algorithm | Key Size | |----------|-----------|----------| | Symmetric encryption | AES-256-GCM | 256 bits | | Password hashing | Argon2id | N/A (use defaults) | | Message authentication | HMAC-SHA256 | 256 bits | | Digital signatures | Ed25519 | 256 bits | | Key exchange | X25519 | 256 bits | | TLS | TLS 1.3 | N/A |
See: references/cryptography-implementation.md
Tools and References
Scripts
| Script | Purpose | Usage |
|--------|---------|-------|
| threat_modeler.py | STRIDE threat analysis with risk scoring | python threat_modeler.py --component "Authentication" |
| secret_scanner.py | Detect hardcoded secrets and credentials | python secret_scanner.py /path/to/project |
Threat Modeler Features:
- STRIDE analysis for any system component
- DREAD risk scoring
- Mitigation recommendations
- JSON and text output formats
- Interactive mode for guided analysis
Secret Scanner Features:
- Detects AWS, GCP, Azure credentials
- Finds API keys and tokens (GitHub, Slack, Stripe)
- Identifies private keys and passwords
- Supports 20+ secret patterns
- CI/CD integration ready
References
| Document | Content | |----------|---------| | security-architecture-patterns.md | Zero Trust, defense-in-depth, authentication patterns, API security | | threat-modeling-guide.md | STRIDE methodology, attack trees, DREAD scoring, DFD creation | | cryptography-implementation.md | AES-GCM, RSA, Ed25519, password hashing, key management |
Security Standards Reference
Compliance Frameworks
| Framework | Focus | Applicable To | |-----------|-------|---------------| | OWASP ASVS | Application security | Web applications | | CIS Benchmarks | System hardening | Servers, containers, cloud | | NIST CSF | Risk management | Enterprise security programs | | PCI-DSS | Payment card data | Payment processing | | HIPAA | Healthcare data | Healthcare applications | | SOC 2 | Service organization controls | SaaS providers |
Security Headers Checklist
| Header | Recommended Value | |--------|-------------------| | Content-Security-Policy | default-src self; script-src self | | X-Frame-Options | DENY | | X-Content-Type-Options | nosniff | | Strict-Transport-Security | max-age=31536000; includeSubDomains | | Referrer-Policy | strict-origin-when-cross-origin | | Permissions-Policy | geolocation=(), microphone=(), camera=() |
Related Skills
| Skill | Integration Point | |-------|-------------------| | senior-devops | CI/CD security, infrastructure hardening | | senior-secops | Security monitoring, incident response | | senior-backend | Secure API development | | senior-architect | Security architecture decisions |