New Visualizations

We have been developing a number of visualization extensions to the framework based on feedback from various user studies. These extensions primarily focus on history and temporal consistency.

Rings and Ripples –

Concentric rings now “ripple out” from the document dot icon. These rings indicate the four most recent activities on the file. The most recent activity is attached to the dot itself, older events radiate outwards and eventually disappear.

History Pie –

Provides a complete temporal description of all activities on a file over the full duration of a session. Mousing over a dot displays a history pie in the lower right corner of the user interface. The arcs within a wedge correspond to a particular user's activity on that file. The timeline stretches from the current time at the center to the start of the session a the pie's outer edge.

Activity Wear –

The edge of each pie slice displays an indication of the accumulated history of an individual's action. Each user's activity is calculated relative to the other users' activities. A maximum width border indicates a very active user and a thin minimum width indicates a relatively inactive user.

User Characterization –

A warning triangle indicates that a particular user may not have participated in a session with this user before. It indicates that either the username is unknown or that there is an unexpected mapping between the user's name and their hardware ethernet address.

For a detailed description of these visualization extensions to Impromptu, see Seeing Further: Extending Visualization as a Basis for Usable Security.