Authors:
Janosch Maier
1
;
Arne Padmos
2
;
Mortaza S. Bargh
3
and
Wolfgang Wörndl
1
Affiliations:
1
Technical University of Munich, Germany
;
2
Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences, Netherlands
;
3
Research and Documentation Centre and Ministry of Security and Justice, Netherlands
Keyword(s):
Cyber Security, Dashboard Design, Mental Models, Policymaking.
Related
Ontology
Subjects/Areas/Topics:
Computer Vision, Visualization and Computer Graphics
;
General Data Visualization
;
Information and Scientific Visualization
;
Perception and Cognition in Visualization
;
Usability Studies and Visualization
Abstract:
Governments make cyber security related policies to protect citizens’ interests and national infrastructures
against cyber attacks. Cyber security related data can enable evidence based policymaking. Data visualisation
via dashboards can help understanding of these cyber security data. Designing such dashboards, however,
is not straightforward due to difficulty for potential dashboard users to correctly interpret the displayed information.
In this contribution we investigate the use of mental models for correct interpretation of displayed
information. Our research question is: How useful are mental models for designing cyber security dashboards?
We qualitatively investigate the mental models of seven cyber security experts from a typical governmental
organisation. This research shows how operators, analysts and managers have different cyber security mental
models. Based on the insight gained on these mental models, we develop a cyber security dashboard to assess
the impact of mental
models on dashboard design. An experience evaluation shows that the realised dashboard
is easy to understand and does not obstruct users. We, however, do not see any meaningful difference in how
the experts perceive the dashboard, despite their different cyber security mental models. We propose some
directions for future research on using mental models for cyber security dashboard design.
(More)