threat model
compound.compound. a plan that identifies possible dangers to a system and explains how to stop them. You use this to figure out who might attack your computer or business and what they want.
compound. a structured representation of all the information that affects the security of an application or system. It identifies potential adversaries, attack vectors, and assets to be protected to inform defensive strategy.
The team created a threat model to protect the new app.
Before writing any code, the security engineers developed a threat model to identify which parts of the database were most vulnerable to hackers.
A robust threat model must account not only for external malicious actors but also for internal risks such as accidental data leaks or the compromise of privileged administrative credentials.
A compound formed from the Old English thret, denoting a declaration of hostile intent, and the Middle French modelle, referring to a representation of a structure.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Often used as a technical compound noun in cybersecurity and risk management contexts.
Last updated July 22, 2026