Mohamed Gorada
Real-time monitoring of computer networks using sound.
Email: m.a.a.gorada2@ncl.ac.uk
Project title
Real-time sonification monitoring system for situational awareness
Supervisor
Project description
This proposal presents the SONY TRAF system Network traffic monitoring system via Sonification. This is a real-time sonification system. It will be used to monitor computer networks to assist in situational awareness of network administrators.
We are investigating how sonification can maintain situational awareness in real time. We will investigate how it can provide the granularity of protocol flow. This granularity is needed to understand the:
- behaviour of the network environment
- types of attacks that threaten the network
Methodology and objectives
Network administrators need a real-time monitoring tool. We are developing a real-time sonification monitoring system that represents network events. It uses sound based on the types of traffic and attacks that threaten the network.
We will carry out a comprehensive literature review about sonification research and existing network monitoring tools
We will then analyse the mechanisms of both normal and malicious traffic. To do this, we will identify the parameters affected by intrusions and changes in traffic behaviour.
We will develop and design a network monitoring tool using sonification techniques. This will lead to the creation of a new network traffic monitoring system.
We will undertake full system implementation. We will create a python script to capture data packets and analyse and represent it. The script will then convert this data into sounds that are easy to understand.
We will perform experiments on the system to test the proposed solution. We will validate the system, analyse the results, and compare them with the expected results.
Result
The monitoring system design would enable operators to detect attacks quickly by knowing the type of attack. In a situation where the behaviour of the network is normal, the network administrator hears beautiful sounds such as birds, waterfalls, and waves. All beautiful sounds indicate that a network has normal behaviour and there is no danger to it.
On other hand, if the network administrator hears frightening sounds such as thunder or fire, a risk or attack is threatening the network. The severity of the attack would depend on the type of sound. For example, if the sound was thunder, this may mean denial of service attacks were taking place.
Qualifications
- MSc in Computer Networking Technology from Northumbria University