A Pragmatic Threat Model for Regulated SMBs
Threat-modeling templates aimed at Google and Microsoft assume APT-level adversaries. Regulated SMBs mostly face commodity threats plus regulator scrutiny. The model below fits that reality.
One-page threat model template
Copy as markdown to paste into your repo, or download a branded PDF for sharing with non-technical stakeholders.
Frequently asked questions
Do small businesses really need to worry about nation-state hackers?
Mostly no. A regulated SMB faces commodity criminal traffic, regulator scrutiny, negligent insiders, opportunistic vulnerability scanning, and vendor security incidents — not the nation-state and sophisticated-criminal adversaries the canonical guides are built around. Model for the threats that actually show up.
Which threats should a regulated SMB model most deeply?
Three STRIDE categories: spoofing (credential theft, phishing, business email compromise), tampering (unauthorized production changes), and information disclosure (regulator-relevant breaches). The other three — repudiation, denial of service, and elevation of privilege — are lower priority and mostly handled by the controls you build for the top three.
Where should an SMB actually spend its security budget?
Four areas, in rough order of impact per dollar: identity hardening, backup and recovery, the vendor trust chain, and documentation hygiene. Identity hardening is the highest-ROI work; immutable backups turn ransomware from a business-ending event into a 48-hour outage.
How long does the one-page threat model take to complete?
About 30 minutes for a new system. Fill it in before launch and re-review it annually. The point is to surface the threats that matter and give leadership a defensible record of what was considered before launch.
What's the risk-acceptance rule in the template?
Score the three categories on residual risk from 1 to 5 for an aggregate out of 15. Above 9, don't launch. Between 7 and 9, launch with a documented mitigation plan and a 90-day review. Below 7, launch.
Why do teams with real controls still fail HIPAA audits?
Because regulators audit your documentation of your controls, not the controls themselves. The teams that lose audits usually have the controls but can't show them in writing — so keep policies, procedures, runbooks, and evidence pipelines current.
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Most SMBs aren't being targeted by APTs.
Kaan Systems does platform engineering and Terraform for funded SaaS, health-tech, and fintech. Compliance evidence is the by-product of that work. The Teardown calibrates the model to the threats that show up, then ties it to controls you can evidence. The Architecture and Compliance Teardown is a written read in about five business days. Book a call.