Network Security Visualization - Application of VR to IW

AVI proposes to develop a software application that will greatly improve both the effiency and timeliness of monitoring the security of complex C4T information networks and databases. The software will provide an interactive 3 dimensional picture of network status and activity that relies on graphical cues rather than current textual data. The system will transform the textual data, gathered by off the shelf network administration tools, into structures compatible with the newly defined Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML) standard, then feed them into a real time viewing engine, similar in functionality to current web browsers. The main goal of the proposed Phase I effort will be to demonstrate the ability of such a system to monitor security related activities on a local area network that is tied to the Internet. During the project, interface software will be developed to provide automatic translation of network security related parameters into VRML scene data. An interactive security viewing engine will be developed, possibly as an extension to an existing VRML browser, and used to investigate ways to recognize intrusions those in progress as well as thosethat are imminent.