Spotlight: Threat Visualizations - Software Advice
Software Advice, By Daniel Humphries
Spotlight: Threat Visualizations
Cybersecurity threats are complex and global. A criminal in Ukraine can use one attack method to rob a bank in Singapore; a “hacktivist” in Australia can use another to bring down the servers of an oil company in England; and a cyber army in Syria can crash a news website in America if they don’t like what it’s reporting. But since those threats are highly technical and “invisible,” it can be difficult to articulate precisely what they are—or why the rest of us should care.
Recently, a number of cybersecurity firms have started producing threat maps that transform the world of threats from abstractions into things we can see. We took a look at five of the best of these threat visualization maps to summarize what they teach us, and how. Be afraid; be very afraid!
Kaspersky Cyberthreat Real-Time Map
Earlier this year, Moscow-based security software company Kaspersky Labs launched what is undoubtedly the most visually striking of all the threat visualization maps currently available. Upon arrival at the page, viewers are presented with an eerie vision: The earth spins in the darkness of space, while laser beams criss-cross the globe, shooting from country to country, as if some strange, secret war is taking place. Read more.
