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Automated Classification of Network Traffic Anomalies

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Abstract

Network traffic anomalies detection and characterization has been a hot topic of research for many years. Although the field is very advanced in the detection of network traffic anomalies, accurate automated classification is still a very challenging and unmet problem. This paper presents a new algorithm for automated classification of network traffic anomalies. The algorithm relies on three steps: (i) after an anomaly has been detected, identify all (or most) related packets or flow records; (ii) use these packets or flow records to derive several distinct metrics directly related to the anomaly; and (iii) classify the anomaly using these metrics in a signature-based approach. We show how this approach can act as a filter to reduce the false positive rate of detection algorithms, while providing network operators with (additional) valuable information about detected anomalies. We validate our algorithm on two different datasets: the METROSEC project database and the MAWI traffic repository.

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© 2009 ICST Institute for Computer Science, Social Informatics and Telecommunications Engineering

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Fernandes, G., Owezarski, P. (2009). Automated Classification of Network Traffic Anomalies. In: Chen, Y., Dimitriou, T.D., Zhou, J. (eds) Security and Privacy in Communication Networks. SecureComm 2009. Lecture Notes of the Institute for Computer Sciences, Social Informatics and Telecommunications Engineering, vol 19. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-05284-2_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-05284-2_6

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-05283-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-05284-2

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

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