DAVIX – A Look Behind the Scene
Although it has been very quiet on this blog for quite a while, lots of activities in the background have been keeping me busy. During the last six months I have been working on my new pet project DAVIX that relates to my interest in security data mining and visualization. But let me start at the beginning.
While playing around with visualization I found that there are lots of tools on the net but getting them to run can cause quite some headaches. So I thought that it would be cool to have an environment where all those tools are available ready to use. As time went by, the idea of a Linux live CD system materialized in my mind. Between Christmas and New Year, while watching 24C3 live streams in the background, I started playing around with SLAX, a modularized Slackware based live CD system. I found it very useful to my purpose and decided to start with it as base for the visualization live CD.
Since I knew that Raffael Marty was writing his book Applied Security Visualization, I contacted him in January 2008 and told him about my project and asked which tools should be included on the CD. Raffy was hooked by the idea from the get go and he asked me bluntly if I would do the CD for his book. Of course I agreed immediately. To get jump started with adding visualization tools, Raffy provided me with the chapter 9 of his books, which contains a list of visualization tools and instructions on how to get them running. At around the same time I got selected into the technical review board for Raffy’s book and I alternately reviewed chapters from Raffy’s awesome book and built the CD.
Since the live CD project was nameless at the time, I thought about an appropriate name for it. After toying with a couple of ideas I came up with the name DAVIX as a short form of Data Analysis and Visualization Linux®. I also liked the reference to the biblical figure David who fought against the giant Goliath. In terms of our project it means that with the “small” live system DAVIX you fight the gigantic heaps of log files and network captures.
DAVIX currently integrates about 180 software packages that contribute to about 40 high level tools for capturing, processing and visualizing data. The project is now in its final rounds of building and testing and will officially release during Greg Conti’s Blackhat and DEFCON talks. For all of you who want first hand experience with DAVIX, Raffy and I invite you to our DAVIX Visualization Workshop at DEFCON 16. The session will be held on Sunday, August 10th 2008 at 2 PM to 4 PM.
See you in Las Vegas!
*** This is a Security Bloggers Network syndicated blog from iplosion security authored by jan.monsch. Read the original post at: http://www.iplosion.com/archives/63
