When starting a shared graph session, you can either start with existing graph buy clicking Share Current Graph:
Or you can start with a new graph by clicking Share New Graph:
Clicking Share Current/New Graph will open the Graph Sharing Window which consists of three tabs for setting up your shared graph sessions, namely:
- Session
- Server
- Encryption
Session
From the Session tab, you can configure your shared graph sessions:
- Session name: This is the name of the shared graph session.
- Security key: This is the security key that is used to encrypt all graph traffic. Only users who have this security key will be able to join the session. Clicking Generate will create a random, secure session key.
- User Alias: This is the user name that will identify graph session members in the session.
Server
Under the Server tab, configurations can be made to the server that you wish to use for your shared graph session. There are three options:
- Paterva (Public): Using the Paterva’s public communication server is the easiest way to start a shared graph session in Maltego. All graph traffic will travel over a server owned by Paterva on the Internet. All graph traffic is encrypted (end-to-end) with the security key that was chosen in the previous step. The Maltego clients also communicate with the graphs server over HTTPS.
- Paterva (Private): Paterva sells copies of the communication (Comms) server to customers. Allowing it to be hosted internally. This private communications server is almost an exact copy of the one that is hosted by Paterva. You will need to enter the IP address or hostname of the communications server on your network.
- Other: It is also possible to run a shared graph session on your own Jabber (XMPP) server. Details on configuring your own XMPP server are beyond the scope of this user guide.
Encryption
By default, packets transferred during a shared graph session are encrypted end-to-end with AES 128 bit. To use 256 bit AES encryption JCE Unlimited Strength Jurisdiction needs to be installed on the machine running the Maltego client. JCE Unlimited Strength Jurisdiction can be downloaded from the links found in the client.
Starting the Shared Graph
To start a new shared graph session, navigate back to the session tab and click Connect. The Maltego Client will establish a connection to the communication server and then open the Graph Window. If a shared graph with the same session name already exists on the communications server that you are using and you enter the correct security key, then the Maltego Client will join the existing shared graph session. If a shared graph with the same session name does not exist, then a new one will be created with the security key that was specified.
When you are in a shared graph session there are a few things that you will notice. On the graph title tab, shared graphs will always have their name shown in aqua color. Additionally, YOUR_ALIAS@SESSION_NAME will be written in the graph’s title:
