Learning from Your First Experience

Completing your first threat model provides valuable experience, but reflection and iteration drive real skill development. Analyze what worked well and what proved challenging. Did your diagram accurately represent the system? Were your threat scenarios realistic? Did you identify controls you initially overlooked? This self-assessment improves future threat modeling efforts.

Validate your findings against real-world data where possible. If your system has security logs, check whether they show attempted attacks matching your scenarios. Penetration test results can confirm whether identified vulnerabilities are exploitable. Incident history might reveal threats you didn't consider. This validation helps calibrate your threat assessment accuracy.

Share your threat model with colleagues for feedback. Developers might identify additional technical threats. Operations teams could highlight practical control limitations. Security professionals can suggest methodology improvements. This collaborative review improves both the current threat model and your future approach. Don't be discouraged by missed threats or incorrect assessments—even experienced threat modelers continuously refine their skills.