Methods of visualizing temporal patterns in and mission impact of computer security breaches

Abstract

The primary objectives of this project were to design and prototype 3D visual representations of: 1) time trends in information security events; and 2) mission impact of information security events. Secure Decisions, a Division of Applied Visions, Inc., interviewed several information security analysts in the US Dept. of Defense and in commercial industry and compiled a list of information requirements to meet these objectives. We then designed several temporal and mission impact visual displays, and prototyped several of them in 3D Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML). Future development of mission impact displays will require that mission impact data be collected and stored in a form that can be accessed by visual displays. Secure Decisions found no readily available techniques for automatically determining mission impact, or even for determining which network resources are required by specific mission-critical tasks (i.e. mission/spl times/device dependencies). To help fill this gap, Secure Decisions outlined the types of data that an automatic system would have to generate to provide users with an efficacious display of mission impact of security incidents.