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Global Accelerated Learning • Est. 1999
Glossary Term Insecure Design

Training Camp • Cybersecurity Glossary

What is Insecure Design?

Insecure Design is OWASP Top 10 2021 A04, covering architectural security flaws from missing threat modeling and secure design patterns, not just coding bugs.

Glossary > Application & API Security > Insecure Design

Understanding Insecure Design

Insecure Design is a category introduced as A04 in the OWASP Top 10 2021 that addresses risks stemming from missing or ineffective security controls at the architecture and design stage, distinct from implementation bugs. It captures failures to apply threat modeling, secure design patterns, and reference architectures, meaning a perfectly coded system can remain vulnerable because the design itself never accounted for the threat. Remediation emphasizes shifting security left through threat modeling, secure design principles, and validating business-logic flows before code is written.

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