In the contemporary digital landscape, safeguarding against cybersecurity threats has emerged as a paramount concern for both organizations and individuals. The ability to comprehend, analyze, and respond effectively to security issues plays a pivotal role in protecting sensitive data and preserving the integrity of critical systems. This thesis delves into the realm of security data visualization, aiming to augment the understanding and response capabilities concerning cybersecurity threats. 

The research begins with a systematic review of the existing literature, encompassing diverse databases and employing relevant keywords. Through this comprehensive approach, a vast array of scholarly articles is curated, providing a robust foundation for the subsequent analysis and exploration of the current state of the art in security visualization. The analysis of the compiled articles adopts a qualitative approach, entailing reading and concise summary of the key points in each article. Through this process, common themes and trends prevalent in the literature are identified, offering valuable insights into the practical strategies employed in the visualization of security data. This comprehensive analysis, which aims to address the research questions such as identification of the current state of the art and the practical strategies adopted in the field of security visualization, together with the identification of related gaps between theory and practice, serves as the foundation to address these questions and present subsequent results in subsequent chapters.
The comprehensive review of existing literature has unveiled the extensive utilization of visualizations in the realm of cybersecurity. These visualizations have been employed to facilitate a range of tasks, including threat detection and network analysis. The review highlights the continuous research support and ongoing innovation within the field, particularly with regard to the development of novel methodologies and the incorporation of user-centered design approaches. Moreover, through the analysis of the literature, the study has successfully identified and defined the optimal objectives for security visualization. These objectives encompass achieving a deep comprehension of security data, effectively detecting and responding to security incidents, proficiently communicating security information, supporting decision-making processes, and augmenting security awareness among users and system operators.

The thesis delves into the examination of tools utilized in security data visualization, categorizing their pertinent aspects and evaluating their efficacy in enhancing comprehension and responsiveness to cybersecurity issues. Where feasible, illustrative use cases are presented to showcase the practical application of these tools. Furthermore, the discussion encompasses a comparative analysis of proprietary tools, elucidating the strengths and weaknesses inherent in various approaches.
The studies of these instruments reveal that visualizations have the potential to  enhance cybersecurity by providing valuable insights into complex data and facilitating decision-making processes across various security domains. However, when compared to proprietary tools, the preference still leans towards the latter in terms of adoption. This preference can be attributed to the prototype-like nature of the majority of solutions encountered in the research, as well as the specialized support and services offered by these proprietary solutions. Additionally, it was evident that current market solutions do not fully leverage the innovative visualization methodologies derived from research, indicating the potential for further improvements resulting from such research efforts.

Furthermore, the thesis exposes a significant research gap concerning the utilization of security visualization tools by non-expert users, with a specific emphasis on general practitioners. The examination of relevant research literature has identified multiple research contributions centered around the examination of aesthetics in the creation of visually captivating and impactful warning signs. These investigations have focused on evaluating the effectiveness of different visualization effects in alerting the general public about the dangers they may encounter while navigating online platforms. The findings derived from these studies underscore the considerable influence that aesthetics can wield in shaping users' perceptions and level of engagement with online security warnings and cautions. Furthermore, these findings emphasize the applicability of user-centered design principles in enhancing internet security measures.

Additionally, the thesis presents categorizations and statistical analyses that contribute to a deeper analysis and comprehension of security data. Various categorization approaches are examined, shedding light on their impact within the context of security visualization. By means of the analyses conducted, the thesis discusses the process of evaluating gaps in security visualizations and proposes solutions to address these gaps between theory and practice. In particular the study identify the lack of standardization and evaluation of visualizations in the context of research and proposes modifications to an established framework endorsed by SANS, previously presented, proposing a possible implementation obtained through a refinement of a the cited framework, pointing out the various steps that as a result of the review showed critical issues and need for improvement.
More specifically, the changes concern extending the analysis of the Exploration phase to encompass existing solutions, involving evaluating both complete solutions that are already deployable and prototypes that offer room for further extensions or modifications and enhancing the Feedback and Fine-tune phase, incorporating privacy and security considerations, ensuring that the visualization tools adhere to necessary standards and guidelines, promoting their wider adoption. Other minor additions to the Visualization Goals, Data Preparation, and Visualization phases were made, further improving these phases, making them more robust and well-defined. By addressing the identified gaps and incorporating necessary considerations, the framework becomes more comprehensive and applicable in diverse security visualization contexts.

In addition to presenting the aforementioned methodology, the study propose a set of potential strategies for validating the proposed framework such as Expert consultation, for seeking feedback and input from subject matter experts in the field, User testing, namely conducting user testing sessions with individuals who would be potential users and Comparative analysis, for comparing the methodology used in this study to other existing methodologies or frameworks in the field. By exploiting these validation processes, the unique requirements and constraints of each organisation can be effectively addressed.

This study outlines also potential practical strategies for leveraging security visualization tools to enhance threat protection. These strategies are derived from the insights gained through the evaluation and analysis of the existing options, evaluated as valid and available at the present time. Within these, we touch upon fields such as vulnerability analysis by exploiting tools that enable the measurement pf the coverage of the attack surface in real-time, moving on to threat analysis by employing solutions that gain detailed insights, enabling efficient resource organisation and prioritisation. By capitalizing on the strengths and successes of these solutions, organizations can establish a robust framework for the development and implementation of their own effective strategies.

In summary, the methodology employed in this research investigates the potential of security visualization and identifies its gaps and limitations. The obtained results and remarks serve as valuable insights to enhance the design and development of applications dedicated to enhancing computer system and network security.

The study has identified gaps that require further research and solution development. One key gap is the need for improved information exchange in security among users at the same level and different types of end users. Exploring the potential of existing tools and proposing a methodology or solution to address this gap would be valuable. Additionally, there is a need to investigate the use of visualizations in cybersecurity awareness training to enhance learners' understanding and awareness of digital threats. Conducting a study to assess the effectiveness of visualizations in conveying complex cybersecurity concepts in an accessible and engaging manner would be a valuable contribution to the field.