Where systems break down
- Features behave correctly, but are misused in ways no one explicitly designed for
- Abuse hides in edge cases, thresholds, and “valid” behaviour
- Automation and AI amplify small gaps faster than teams can react
What this turns into if left unchecked
- The same issue resurfaces in slightly different forms after each fix
- Engineering time is burned reacting instead of removing the root cause
- Support load, refunds, and manual review quietly compound
- Trust erodes once users or partners are affected
- Issues escalate to legal, compliance, or leadership — where timelines slow and costs rise sharply
Where we step in
- Model how real attackers exploit incentives, workflows, and “valid” product behaviour
- Simulate abuse paths against live flows and trace them end-to-end
- Identify the exact assumptions, gaps, and thresholds that allow harm to propagate
- Implement controls that close the abuse path without breaking the product
What this looks like in practice
- Hiring platforms where legitimate posts were used to run scams via workflow gaps
- Marketplaces where automated actors stayed under review thresholds until trust collapsed
- AI features that were correct in isolation but harmful once automated at scale
What changes after
- Abuse paths are removed before they escalate into incidents
- The same issue does not resurface in a new form weeks later
- Teams know what to block, slow, or review — with clear decision boundaries
- When challenged, there is a clear, defensible explanation of what happened and why
Why this approach works
- We focus on real behaviour at scale, not hypothetical threats
- We work at the product and workflow layer where abuse actually emerges
- We remove entire classes of repeat issues, not one-off symptoms
- We design fixes that hold up as systems evolve and complexity increases
About Maple Logic
Maple Logic is a specialist trust & abuse engineering studio founded by Chris Smith (CTO / engineer).
We work with a small number of teams so we can stay deeply involved and deliver real, measurable outcomes.
If the issues above sound familiar, the quickest next step is a short call to understand
what’s happening in your system and whether we can help.
