Hypertree Visualization for Cybersecurity Incident Correlation
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Current incident management systems face challenges in efficiently visualizing and navigating cybersecurity incidents and their elements, leading to prolonged investigation and response times due to the complexity of interrelationships and the need for focused analysis.
Innovation Solution
A correlation finder and artifacts correlator are introduced, utilizing a hypertree display with interactive navigation aids that allow users to selectively eliminate or restore nodes and edges, enabling flexible visualization and navigation of cybersecurity incidents and elements, with features like alikeness ratio selection and zooming to focus on relevant information.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If a comprehensive incident management system is used to track all cybersecurity incidents and elements, then complete information management is achieved, but navigation and visualization become complex and time-consuming
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments the hypertree into collapsible nodes representing different incident elements (artifacts, hosts, processes). Users can expand or collapse nodes to focus on specific portions of the incident data, enabling comprehensive information management while reducing visualization complexity through hierarchical organization.
Solution Approach 2:
The system transforms flat incident data into a multi-dimensional hypertree structure with hierarchical levels. This dimensional transformation allows users to navigate through multiple layers of incident elements, achieving complete information coverage while providing structured navigation that reduces time to locate specific incident details.
2Loss of information
If all incident elements and artifacts are displayed simultaneously, then complete visualization is achieved, but user focus and analysis efficiency decrease
Solution Approach 1:
The hypertree structure is dynamically adjustable, allowing users to expand or collapse nodes based on their analytical needs. This dynamic visualization enables complete information display when needed while providing the ability to focus on specific incident elements by collapsing unrelated nodes, thereby maintaining both completeness and analysis efficiency.
Solution Approach 2:
Different portions of the hypertree can be expanded or collapsed independently, allowing users to apply different levels of detail to different incident elements. This local quality adjustment enables users to focus computational and visual resources on the most relevant incident artifacts while maintaining the option to access complete information when necessary.
3Measurement precision
If detailed navigation options are provided for incident elements, then precise analysis is enabled, but system complexity and learning curve increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments navigation into hierarchical levels within the hypertree structure. Users navigate from high-level incident nodes down to specific artifact nodes through a structured hierarchy, achieving precise analysis without requiring users to comprehend all navigation options simultaneously. This segmented approach reduces perceived complexity while maintaining analytical precision.
4Reliability
If the system displays all relationships between incident elements, then complete correlation is achieved, but visualization clutter and response time increase
Solution Approach 1:
The hypertree dynamically adjusts its displayed content based on user interactions. Users can expand nodes to reveal complete correlations when needed for accurate analysis, or collapse nodes to reduce visualization clutter and accelerate response time for routine investigations. This dynamic behavior maintains correlation accuracy while adapting to different response time requirements.
Data Source
AI summary
A method and system is provided for visualizing and navigating cybersecurity information. A hypertree is displayed on a display device of a computerized system. The hypertree includes a plurality of nodes linked by edges, one or more of the nodes representing cybersecurity incidents, and one or more of the nodes representing elements or artifacts of cybersecurity incidents, the edges representing a specific relationship between the nodes linked by the edges. The computerized system displays an interactive navigation aid to enable a user to navigate the hypertree, and receives a navigation command from the user through the interactive navigation aid. The computerized system modifies the displayed hypertree in response to the navigation command. The navigation command comprises selective elimination or restoration of edges or nodes on the hypertree so as to enable the user to readily visualize interrelationships between the displayed nodes that are significant to a cybersecurity investigation or response.