Senior Security Engineer
The agent performs STRIDE threat analysis with DREAD risk scoring, designs defense-in-depth security architectures with Zero Trust principles, conducts secure code reviews against OWASP Top 10, and scans codebases for hardcoded secrets across 20+ credential patterns.
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