Visual Analytics for Cybersecurity Education and Training

The increasing number of security threats leads to a growing need to develop new methodsfor their mitigation. Simultaneously, it is necessary to train more and more experts whowould recognize these threats in time. However, comprehension and practical training ofcyber-defense processes is challenging. It is not possible to utilize production infrastructuresas these activities would endanger them. Instead, it is necessary to use isolated environmentsemulating real critical infrastructures. Progress in the development of suitable environmentsoccurred only recently and is associated with the expansion and maturity of cloud technologies. However, the availability of suitable cybersecurity platforms is only one piece of thepuzzle. A deeper understanding of cybersecurity processes requires employing efficient dataanalysis methods capable of providing insight into relationships hidden in the data. In ourresearch, we deal with both interconnected areas. We aim to develop a suitable environment, where security experiments and practical training can be conducted, and relevantdata can be systematically gathered. Simultaneously, we strive to use the data for threatsunderstanding and training mitigation procedures. We use the exploratory, visual-basedapproaches to the data analysis.