Tools / Microsoft Threat Modeling Tool (TMT) Interview questions
How does TMT map STRIDE categories to specific diagram elements?
The default SDL template follows Microsoft's published mapping, which assigns categories based on which security property each element type can realistically violate.
| Element | Typical STRIDE categories |
| External Entity | Spoofing, Repudiation |
| Process | All six categories |
| Data Store | Tampering, Information Disclosure, Denial of Service, Repudiation (conditional) |
| Data Flow | Tampering, Information Disclosure, Denial of Service |
This isn't an arbitrary lookup - it follows from what each element type can actually do. An external entity can't be "tampered with" in a meaningful sense since you don't own its internals, but it absolutely can be impersonated, which is why Spoofing applies there and Tampering generally doesn't.
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