On the Applicability of Security and Privacy Threat Modeling for Blockchain Applications

Abstract

Elicitative threat modeling approaches such as Microsoft STRIDE and LINDDUN for respectively security and privacy use Data Flow Diagrams (DFDs) to model the system under analysis. Distinguishing between external entities, processes, data stores and data flows, these system models are particularly suited for modeling centralized, traditional multi-tiered system architectures.

This raises the question whether these approaches are also suited for inherently decentralized architectures such as distributed ledgers or blockchains, in which the processing, storage, and control flow is shared among many equal participants.

To answer this question, we perform an in-depth analysis of the compatibility between blockchain security and privacy threat types documented in literature and these threat modeling approaches. Our findings identify areas for future improvement of elicitative threat modeling approaches.