Michael Patterson : Advanced NetFlow Traffic Analysis
Michael Patterson
Founder and Product manager for Plixer's Scrutinizer NetFlow and sFlow Analyzer as well as Flow Analytics.

ip host reputation

Securing Remote Networks Against Cyber Threats: part 2

July 5, 2013

IP Host Reputation

Today, some NetFlow collector vendors are comparing IP addresses found in flows to reputation lists.  This host reputation look up process is a routine that goes out to an Internet based reputation list provider every hour and downloads an updated list of known hosts that end systems on the network should not be communicating with. Typically this is a list of compromised hosts that have a reputation for sending nefarious traffic (e.g. C&C). 

Read part 1 of this series.





Detecting Advanced Persistent Threats with NetFlow and IPFIX

April 11, 2012

Detecting Advanced Persistent Threats and other Network Security Threats with NetFlow and IPFIX requires advanced flow analytics. For example Top hosts, top applications, top DSCP values, etc., it’s great information and these reports can be used both reactively and proactively but, it’s just the tip of the iceberg as NetFlow can tell us about all kinds of anomalous traffic that may be flying under the radar. 

NetFlow Behavior Analysis Systems : Limited Impact

January 13, 2012

NetFlow Network Behavior Analysis (NBA) systems have limited impact on detecting threats. They are only suitable as a second or perhaps third layer of threat detection. Some companies offering NetFlow Threat Detection tools would have you believe otherwise. Don't fall for it. "Gartner says NBA is suitable as a complementary technology to intrusion detection and prevention software, which is effective for addressing network attacks that can be positively identified." As a HUGE NetFlow and IPFIX supporter, I tend to agree that flow technologies can augment security practices, but can't replace them.

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