Limitations and Perspective

Attack trees are useful but not without challenges.

Key Issues

1. Completeness

• No guarantee all attack paths are captured
• Missing a root node can omit entire threat classes
• Hard to know when you’re “done”

2. Scoping

• Some attacks fall outside your control
• Example: hardware-level attacks vs software systems

You must define:

• What is in scope
• What is someone else’s responsibility

3. Meaning and Consistency

• AND/OR semantics often unclear
• Sequence rarely well-defined
• Different authors use different conventions

This increases cognitive load when interpreting trees.