Threat mitigation mapping

Threat Mitigation Mapping

Connect threats to controls for effective security planning.

When to Use This Skill

• Prioritizing security investments
• Creating remediation roadmaps
• Validating control coverage
• Designing defense-in-depth
• Security architecture review
• Risk treatment planning

Core Concepts

1. Control Categories

Preventive ────► Stop attacks before they occur
   │              (Firewall, Input validation)
   │
Detective ─────► Identify attacks in progress
   │              (IDS, Log monitoring)
   │
Corrective ────► Respond and recover from attacks
                  (Incident response, Backup restore)

2. Control Layers

Layer	Examples
Network	Firewall, WAF, DDoS protection
Application	Input validation, authentication
Data	Encryption, access controls
Endpoint	EDR, patch management
Process	Security training, incident response

3. Defense in Depth

                    ┌──────────────────────┐
                    │      Perimeter       │ ← Firewall, WAF
                    │   ┌──────────────┐   │
                    │   │   Network    │   │ ← Segmentation, IDS
                    │   │  ┌────────┐  │   │
                    │   │  │  Host  │  │   │ ← EDR, Hardening
                    │   │  │ ┌────┐ │  │   │
                    │   │  │ │App │ │  │   │ ← Auth, Validation
                    │   │  │ │Data│ │  │   │ ← Encryption
                    │   │  │ └────┘ │  │   │
                    │   │  └────────┘  │   │
                    │   └──────────────┘   │
                    └──────────────────────┘

Templates and detailed worked examples

Full template library and detailed mitigation/control mappings live in references/details.md. Read that file when you need the concrete templates for: Mitigation Model, Defense in Depth scoring, Executive Summary scaffolding, Critical Gaps reporting, Recommendations, Implementation Roadmap, Results by Control.

Best Practices

Do's

• Map all threats - No threat should be unmapped
• Layer controls - Defense in depth is essential
• Mix control types - Preventive, detective, corrective
• Track effectiveness - Measure and improve
• Review regularly - Controls degrade over time

Don'ts

• Don't rely on single controls - Single points of failure
• Don't ignore cost - ROI matters
• Don't skip testing - Untested controls may fail
• Don't set and forget - Continuous improvement
• Don't ignore people/process - Technology alone isn't enough