How to Build a Personal Threat Model
Good security is personal. The right measures for a journalist protecting sources, an ordinary person avoiding scams, and an executive facing targeted attacks are completely different — and the tool that sorts them out is a threat model applied to yourself. Building one turns “am I secure?” (unanswerable) into “am I protected against the threats that realistically apply to me?” (actionable).
The four questions, applied to you#
The same questions professionals ask about systems, pointed at your own life:
- What are you protecting? Accounts, money, private communications, physical safety, reputation.
- Who might want it? Scammers, an abusive ex, a data broker, a targeted attacker — be honest about your situation.
- What can they realistically do? A random scammer and a resourced adversary are very different threats.
- What happens if they succeed? This sets how much effort each risk deserves.
Your answers determine your defenses. Someone worried mostly about scams and breaches needs MFA, a password manager, and skepticism of phishing. Someone facing a targeted adversary needs considerably more.
Right-sizing your defenses#
The value of a personal threat model is avoiding both failure modes:
| Failure | Cause |
|---|---|
| Under-protected | Ignoring realistic threats |
| Over-protected | Extreme measures you can’t sustain |
Security you cannot live with, you will abandon. A threat model helps you pick defenses that are strong enough for your real risks and sustainable enough to actually use.
A personal threat model makes everyday security rational. More at the Careers & Practice hub.
Frequently asked questions#
What is a personal threat model?
A personal threat model is a simple assessment of what you want to protect, who might want it, what they can realistically do, and what happens if they succeed — applied to your own life. It helps you choose security measures that fit your actual risks, rather than either ignoring security or chasing extreme measures you do not need.
Why does everyone need a different threat model?
Because risks differ enormously by situation. A journalist, an activist, an ordinary person, and a company executive face very different adversaries and stakes, so the right defenses differ too. Security advice that ignores this either over-protects (unusable) or under-protects. A personal threat model tailors defenses to your reality.