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 Paper No.   2011-008  
 Title   Developing Multidimensional Firewall Configuration Visualizations  
 Authors   Morrissey, Shaun P. 
 Grinstein, Georges G. 
 Keyes, Brenden 
 APA Format
Citation
 

Morrissey, S.P., Grinstein, G.G., and Keyes, B. (2011).  Developing Multidimensional Firewall Configuration Visualizations.  Proceedings of the International Conference on Information Security and Privacy, Orlando, FL, pp. 62-69.

 Keywords   firewall visualization, network security, firewalls, filtering routers, security configuration 
 On-Line Version   http://www.teaching.cs.uml.edu/~heines/techrpts/Papers/MultidimensionalFWvizFinalcopyright.pdf 
 Format = Adobe Acrobat PDF   (if the above link is broken, please contact Prof. Jesse Heines)
 Abstract 

Firewall configuration files are created and edited as text files, despite significant size, complexity, and the possibility of interaction between entries.  We embedded interactive visualizations in a simple firewall ruleset editor.  To make rulesets visualizable, we calculate the set of packets accepted by the firewall as a restricted case of constructive solid geometry.  We show a lossless visual representation using parallel coordinates in five dimensions to display the convex solid decomposition of the set of acceptable packets.  We added a visualization of the penteracts as complex polyhedra in a Cartesian three-dimensional display using interactive rotation and scaling. We evaluate these approaches by applying them to compact constructed rulesets containing all interactions between rules.  The polyhedral approach produces visual artifacts for more than half of the rule interactions.  This first attempt shows promise, but highlights the extension needed to the calculation procedure before complete coverage could be claimed.