Abstract
After several knowledge elicitation activities with intrusion detection system analysts, two different techniques were used to generate visualizations that best portrayed the most important information relevant to a cyber security task. These two visualization techniques (parallel coordinates and scatter plots) were then compared for their effectiveness in portraying potential attack patterns to novices. Both visualization types were varied by levels of distortion and complexity to determine their robustness. A total of 44 volunteers participated in the study. Results showed that participants experienced quicker response times for all distortion and complexity levels when viewing the scatter plots. Accuracy results were mixed. Lessons learned and future research ideas are discussed.