Really enjoyed this framing of threat modelling as a way to make assumptions explicit and not just a compliance checklist. It was also quite amusing and sassy. Well done to the author, great piece!
The point that secure is meaningless without defining the adversary and assets is especially important.
One thing it doesn't tackle that I would like to know more about is how do teams keep these assumptions and threat models current as the system and its environment evolve? I think that is a massive challenge.
Soatok's Informal Guide to Threat Models
11–20 of 55 posts
Re: Soatok's Informal Guide to Threat Models
#12Really enjoyed this framing of threat modelling as a way to make assumptions explicit and not just a compliance checklist. It was also quite amusing and sassy. Well done to the author, great piece! The point that secure is meaningless without defining the adversary and assets is especially important. One thing it doesn't tackle that I would like to know more about is how do teams keep these assumptions and threat mod…
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Re: Soatok's Informal Guide to Threat Models
#13Really enjoyed this framing of threat modelling as a way to make assumptions explicit and not just a compliance checklist. It was also quite amusing and sassy. Well done to the author, great piece! The point that secure is meaningless without defining the adversary and assets is especially important. One thing it doesn't tackle that I would like to know more about is how do teams keep these assumptions and threat mod…
[flagged]
Re: Soatok's Informal Guide to Threat Models
#14Really enjoyed this framing of threat modelling as a way to make assumptions explicit and not just a compliance checklist. It was also quite amusing and sassy. Well done to the author, great piece! The point that secure is meaningless without defining the adversary and assets is especially important. One thing it doesn't tackle that I would like to know more about is how do teams keep these assumptions and threat mod…
[flagged]
Yes, your AI agent is making posts. Please stop.
Re: Soatok's Informal Guide to Threat Models
#15Earlier quoted context omitted.
> That is possible, but given the recent 2029 timelines from large Internet providers, I think it's prudent to prepare for Q-Day even if it never arrives. no one argues we shouldn't. you made the argument that we should abandon ECC by not doing hybrid, in my opinion it's an extremely weak argument because it assumes Q-Day will arrive. don't change goalposts. the article you linked supports my position. > the fear of…
> you made the argument that we should abandon ECC by not doing hybrid, Where did I ever make that argument? In both TFA and my previous blog post, I've made it abundantly clear that I'm pro-hybrid. My argument is simply: 1. The claimed benefits of ECDH hybridization evaporate immediately the moment Q-Day happens. No one disputes this. 2. Harvest Now, Decrypt Later (HNDL) is the primary threat we face today during th…
>Once Q-Day happens, your only source of security is PQ anyway, so if we're going to do hybrids with today's threat model in mind, PQ+PQ is the way you really want to go
I want to broadly agree but I still can't resist arguing :)
EC is really cheap on the CPU and I trust that libsodium's X25519 is implemented pretty solidly. After Q day, the $ price to break EC is still not negligible.
Whereas PQ+PQ is really expensive. I'm anti PQ+PQ hybrid just on cost. PQ+EC is practically free and still inflicts $'s on attackers after Q day (attacks do get cheaper and you discard the EC at some point, but practically I don't see EC as instantly worthless).
Re: Soatok's Informal Guide to Threat Models
#16Maybe I shouldn't, but I stopped taking the author seriously for their lack of nuance/extremely biased views favouring Signal in every article about E2EE applied to IM. But I do agree that threat modeling is just a support to formalize and document the variables in the threat equation. It doesn't say anything about whether the threat is reasonable, legitimate and grounded in reality, so it's only knocking the subjectivity can a tad down the road.
Re: Soatok's Informal Guide to Threat Models
#17Earlier quoted context omitted.
> That is possible, but given the recent 2029 timelines from large Internet providers, I think it's prudent to prepare for Q-Day even if it never arrives. no one argues we shouldn't. you made the argument that we should abandon ECC by not doing hybrid, in my opinion it's an extremely weak argument because it assumes Q-Day will arrive. don't change goalposts. the article you linked supports my position. > the fear of…
> you made the argument that we should abandon ECC by not doing hybrid, Where did I ever make that argument? In both TFA and my previous blog post, I've made it abundantly clear that I'm pro-hybrid. My argument is simply: 1. The claimed benefits of ECDH hybridization evaporate immediately the moment Q-Day happens. No one disputes this. 2. Harvest Now, Decrypt Later (HNDL) is the primary threat we face today during th…
In your PQ safety blanket article https://soatok.blog/2026/04/13/hybrid-constructions-the-post... you make it pretty clear the reason you support hybrid is tactical, not cryptographic.
Your wording ("Once Q-Day happens") strongly suggests Q-Day will happen, like, it’s so certain you don’t even need to state it explicitly, you can just assume it will. And your references to the PQ timeline give the impression that you think it will likely happen soon.
It’s pretty clear from there that you think ECDH is now technically useless, and the only real justification for hybrid schemes (as opposed to pure PQ), is to reassure the people still unsure about the likes of ML-KEM. Sure you still do recommend going hybrid, but from what I can tell, you would have preferred a world where we go pure PQ right away.
And so would I to be honest (if ECC is a bust): one algorithm is simpler and faster than two.
Re: Soatok's Informal Guide to Threat Models
#18Earlier quoted context omitted.
> you made the argument that we should abandon ECC by not doing hybrid, Where did I ever make that argument? In both TFA and my previous blog post, I've made it abundantly clear that I'm pro-hybrid. My argument is simply: 1. The claimed benefits of ECDH hybridization evaporate immediately the moment Q-Day happens. No one disputes this. 2. Harvest Now, Decrypt Later (HNDL) is the primary threat we face today during th…
>Once Q-Day happens, your only source of security is PQ anyway, so if we're going to do hybrids with today's threat model in mind, PQ+PQ is the way you really want to go I want to broadly agree but I still can't resist arguing :) EC is really cheap on the CPU and I trust that libsodium's X25519 is implemented pretty solidly. After Q day, the $ price to break EC is still not negligible. Whereas PQ+PQ is really expensi…
I’ve seen arguments that PQ algorithms are easier to implement correctly than ECDH, thus reducing that risk. I’d have to try it myself to really asses that, but for now I believe them. I’d say the real cost is performance.
Re: Soatok's Informal Guide to Threat Models
#19Earlier quoted context omitted.
>Once Q-Day happens, your only source of security is PQ anyway, so if we're going to do hybrids with today's threat model in mind, PQ+PQ is the way you really want to go I want to broadly agree but I still can't resist arguing :) EC is really cheap on the CPU and I trust that libsodium's X25519 is implemented pretty solidly. After Q day, the $ price to break EC is still not negligible. Whereas PQ+PQ is really expensi…
I’ve seen arguments that PQ algorithms are easier to implement correctly than ECDH, thus reducing that risk. I’d have to try it myself to really asses that, but for now I believe them. I’d say the real cost is performance.
ML-KEM is faster than X25519. The only performance downside is public key/ciphertext size. https://quantumsecuritydefence.com/quantum-news/ml-kem-vs-x2...
Re: Soatok's Informal Guide to Threat Models
#20This is the best gay furry blog post about threat modeling I've seen all day!
> Please remember that Dhole Moments is a furry blog before complaining about the furry art. It gets exhausting.
Articles about cybersecurity gets 100% credibility when made by furries.