EEVi - framework for evaluating the effectiveness of visualization in cyber-security

Cyber-security visualization is an up-and-coming area which aims to reduce security analysts' workload by presenting information as visual analytics rather than a string of text and characters. But the adoption of the resultant visualizations has not increased. The literature indicates a research gap of a lack of guidelines and standardized evaluation techniques for effective visualization in cyber-security, as a reason for it. Therefore, this research addresses the research gap by developing a framework called EEVi for effective cyber-security visualizations for the performed task. The term ‘effective visualization’ can be defined as the features of visualization that are crucial to perform a certain task successfully. EEVi has been developed by analyzing qualitative data that leads to the formation of cognitive relationships (called links) between data that act as guidelines for effective cyber-security visualization in terms of the performed task. The methodology to develop this framework can be applied to other fields to understand cognitive relationships between data. Additionally, the analysis presents a glimpse into the usage of EEVi in cyber-security visualization.