Abstract: Methods and apparatuses for the visualization of network traffic and permitting access thereto are provided. In one aspect of the invention, an illustrative method includes defining a plurality of views of network traffic for the classification of network traffic into the views. At least one of the views is a group view. In one example, the types of views include at least two of the following: network address, application, protocol, flow type, packet type, geographic region, ICMP type, slow scan, operating system, flag, remote host count, local host count, spoofing, fragments, service, sessions, response time, status, and user. In another example, network traffic is classified according to the composite views of various combinations of previously defined views. A master console permits users to access only the portion of the network for which the users is responsible. The permitted view does not show other parts of the network.