Security Architecture Review

Overview

A security architecture review is a structured evaluation of a system or change to determine whether trust boundaries, data flows, identities, cryptography, dependencies, controls, and failure behavior meet security and risk requirements.

Security Architecture Review is closely connected to Policy-Based Access Control (PBAC), Mandatory Access Control (MAC), and Risk-Based Vulnerability Management (RBVM). It differs from code review and penetration testing because it evaluates the design and assumptions before or alongside implementation, including risks that testing may not reveal in one deployed configuration.

Operational implementation should document architecture and assets, identify trust boundaries, model threats, review authentication and authorization, assess key and secret handling, examine third parties and recovery, record decisions, and require follow-up for design changes.

The principal failure modes include missing data flows, undocumented dependencies, insecure defaults, concentration risk, weak recovery, inconsistent enforcement, architecture drift, and review performed after irreversible commitments.

Useful measures include reviews completed before launch, high-risk findings, design exceptions, remediation closure, repeat architecture issues, and changes deployed without review.

Operationally, teams should document architecture and assets, identify trust boundaries, model threats, and review authentication and authorization. Key risks include missing data flows, undocumented dependencies, insecure defaults, and concentration risk.

A production treatment of Security Architecture Review should test a structured evaluation of a system or change to determine whether trust boundaries, data flows, identities, cryptography, dependencies, controls, and failure behavior meet security and risk requirements within the relevant asset, decision, or service state. The Security Architecture Review context record for structured evaluation of a system, change to determine whether trust boundaries, and data flows should preserve source data, configuration or policy version, responsible actor, exception, and outcome. Review of Security Architecture Review should determine whether safeguards addressing structured evaluation of a system, change to determine whether trust boundaries, and data flows changed exposure in practice, not merely whether a document or setting existed.