BUCEPHALUS: a BUsiness CEntric cybersecurity Platform for proActive anaLysis Using visual analyticS

Abstract

Analyzing and mitigating the threats that cyber-attacks pose on the services of a critical infrastructure is not a trivial activity. Research solutions have been developed using data about the devices used for implementing the services, services dependencies, network topology, and the vulnerabilities that can be exploited to attack the network. However, most of the proposed solutions fail to consider these aspects in an integrated fashion, allowing the user to understand global dependencies and weaknesses. This paper contributes this issue with BUCEPHALUS, a Visual Analytics solution providing a) a visual overview of the existing relationships among business functions, devices, and vulnerabilities, and b) a what-if analysis scenario, in which the user is supported on making decisions on which vulnerabilities are more appropriate to fix. BUCEPHALUS has been developed and validated within a user-centered design process involving security professionals.