How do we keep threat modeling from becoming a time sink?

Scope it to stories that change trust or data boundaries and cap it at 30–90 minutes. Use a one-page template, STRIDE prompts, and define security acceptance criteria you can automate. Defer deep dives to a backlog if needed; the point is to catch the top risks early and codify controls.

Won’t adding scanners and policies balloon our CI times?

Only if you run everything on every change. Run cheap checks first, parallelize heavy scans, cache DBs, and scan diffs. Gate initially only on HIGH/CRITICAL and move admission controllers from audit to enforce gradually. Keep added CI time under ~10 minutes.

What counts as acceptable audit evidence?

Artifacts generated by your pipeline: SBOMs, vulnerability scans (SARIF), policy evaluation outputs (OPA/Conftest), signed provenance (cosign/in-toto), and GitOps deployment history. Store them in an immutable bucket with retention and link them to PRs and releases.

We’re not ready for a service mesh. Can we still meet encryption-in-transit requirements?

Yes. Start with TLS at the edge and between services using mTLS libraries or sidecars where needed. Many teams meet PCI/SOC requirements with managed ingress + TLS 1.2+, cloud KMS for certs, and narrow egress policies. You can adopt a mesh later for consistency.

How do exceptions work without becoming the Wild West?

Use a standard exception template (risk, compensating controls, expiry), require owner approval, and track aging. Keep the bar high and visible; review exceptions weekly. Most teams can keep long-lived exceptions under 5% once good defaults are in place.

Security-compliance · Oct 2, 2025 · 8 minute read

The Payment API Rewrite That Finally Passed Audit: Threat Modeling Without Hitting the Brakes

Bake threat modeling into modernization sprints by turning policies into guardrails, checks, and automated proofs—without killing velocity.

Back to all posts

The Payment API Rewrite That Finally Passed Audit: Threat Modeling Without Hitting the Brakes

Key takeaways

Implementation checklist