Traffic Classification through Simple Statistical Fingerprinting

The classification of IP flows according to the application that generated them is at the basis of any modern network management platform. However, classical techniques such as the ones based on the analysis of transport layer or application layer information are rapidly becoming ineffective. In this paper we present a flow classification mechanism based on three simple properties of the captured IP packets: their size, inter-arrival time and arrival order. Even though these quantities have already been used in the past to define classification techniques, our contribution is based on new structures called protocol fingerprints, which express such quantities in a compact and efficient way, and on a simple classification algorithm based on normalized thresholds. Although at a very early stage of development, the proposed technique is showing promising preliminary results from the classification of a reduced set of protocols.