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Raffael Marty

There is no One Security Visualization Tool

By Raffael Marty on Sat, 05/09/09 - 4:45pm.

DAVIX

Now that you know who I am, and some of you told me who you are, it is time to get started with visualization. The goal of this blog post is to arm you with enough information such that you can go off and explore the world of security visualization yourself.
The most important thing you will need is a visualization tool. You can find a number of free tools on the Internet. However, one of the issues with a lot of these tools is that they require quite some involvement on the users side. It starts with often fairly involved installation processes that can include the compilation of the tool. Once up and running, the next challenge is generally the import of your data. Pretty much each tool uses its own data format and the user has to translate his data. And finally, not all the tools are very intuitive to use and not all of them offer all the visualization capabilities or graphs that one might need.

What tools should you be using then? A great start is DAVIX, the Data Analysis and Visualization Linux. DAVIX is a live CD that contains a wide variety of free visualization tools all preinstalled and ready to go. There is no hassle with installing an operating system or struggle to build the necessary tools to get started with visualization. You can completely dedicate your time to data analysis.

The following is a short list of tools that you can find on DAVIX:

  • AfterGlow
  • TreeMap
  • Mondrian
  • Parvis
  • LGL
  • R Project
  • InteVis
  • EtherApe
  • GGobi
  • Tulip
  • Cytoscape
  • GUESS
  • RT3DG
  • Walrus
  • Dottty and lneato
  • GraphViz
  • glTail
  • Shoki
  • TimeSearcher
  • TNV
  • NVisionIP
  • Rumint
  • MRTG/RRD
  • GnuPlot
  • Ploticus

In my next post I will talk a little more about the tools I am using most frequently and some of the ways I use them. For now, have a look at DAVIX and I still encourage those of you who have not filled out the survey from my last blog post to go back and do so. That way I can make sure that I tailor the topics of the next few blog posts to your interests!

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About Security Visualization
Raffael Marty:

Raffy is the founder of PixlCloud - a data visualization in the cloud company. His interests span anything related to information visualization. He used to hold various positions in the log management space, at companies like Splunk, ArcSight, and IBM research, where he also earned his masters in computer science. Raffy has been instrumental in building and defining the security visualization space. The SecViz portal, the Data Analysis and Visualization Linux (DAVIX), as well as AfterGlow are some of the prime resources for information related to security visualization.

This author's book, Applied Security Visualization was selected as the May book giveaway. To enter the monthly book giveaway, visit the "Giveaways and Contests section" on Cisco Subnet home page.

Read an excerpt of Applied Security Visualization

 

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