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Graphical Real-time Attack Topology Information System (GRATIS)

Students:
Phillip LaBar, Undergraduate, Information Technology and Management
Roy Taylor, Graduate, Information Technology and Management

Faculty:
Bill Lidinsky, Alva C. Todd Professor and Assistant Director of Information Technology and Management

Project:
GRATIS is a 3D engine that displays graphically the location in a building where harmful messages are originating.

Outcome:
A prototype application was created utilizing another ITM549 class project, NIDS, to supply data to GRATIS. GRATIS’ 3D engine code reads a map of the IIT Rice Campus, which was created within a freeware 3D modeling application called DeleD. While GRATIS displays a 3D map to the user, it also listens to UDP messages from the NIDS system. When NIDS detects a message that it considers a threat, it sends notification to GRATIS. The GRATIS logic then utilizes that formatted text message to flash the physical room from which the message originated. A human operator will immediately become aware of the location of a potential problem.

The application was tested successfully at the IIT Rice Campus throughout the spring of 2005, and with its accompanying documentation is ready to be utilized in a production environment at Rice.

GRATIS is extensible, as it will read in any 3D map that is exported to Microsoft’s Direct X .X format.

All software used for this project is either freeware or shareware.

The project was presented at the Computer and Network Security Workshop on April 7, 2005 and to the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) on May 12, 2005 as part of an IEEE student colloquium.