Use Cases for Visualizing Uncertain Computer Networks

Abstract

Network administration has become an extremely complex task. As wireless devices have become more commonplace, along with varied resources such as web servers, storage devices, autonomous sensors, and printers, the network becomes more dynamic and it becomes harder to keep track of all the machines and users present. This becomes even more pressing when a user engages in deceptive practices for the purposes of launching an attack on the network resources. Such users deliberately obfuscate their identity, creating a level of uncertainty about the network. Most networking tools characterize trends in variables of interest with assorted two-dimensional statistical graphics and node-link diagrams. Users are often forced to navigate through various contextual combinations during the process of inspection, investigation, or hypothesis testing. While network monitoring and exploration tools abound, few visualize uncertainty in a complex network administration task.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Oct 01, 2011
Accession Number
ADA610559

Entities

People

  • Jonathan W. Decker
  • Mark A. Livingston
  • Paul Hyden
  • Stephen Russell

Organizations

  • United States Naval Research Laboratory

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Materials and Manufacturing Processes

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Abstracts
  • Bandwidth
  • Brightness
  • Computer Networks
  • Computers
  • Deception
  • Detection
  • Information Operations
  • Intensity
  • Military Research
  • Monitoring
  • Networks
  • Two Dimensional
  • Uncertainty
  • Visualizations
  • Wireless Networks

Fields of Study

  • Computer science

Readers

  • Cybersecurity.
  • Database Systems and Applications
  • Economics