NEMEA: A framework for network traffic analysis

Abstract

Since network attacks become more sophisticated, it is difficult to discover them using traditional analysis tools. For some kinds of attacks, it is necessary to analyze Application Layer (L7) information in order to detect them. However, there is a lack of existing tools capable of L7 processing and manipulation. Therefore, we propose a flow-based modular Network Measurements Analysis (NEMEA) system to overcome the situation. NEMEA is designed with respect to a stream-wise concept, i. e. data are analyzed continuously in memory with minimal data storage. NEMEA is developed as an open-source project and is publicly available for world-wide community. It is designed for both experimental and operational use. It is able to process off-line traffic traces as well as live network flows. The system is very flexible and can be easily extended by new modules. The modules are developed within a NEMEA framework that is a key component of the project. NEMEA thus represents a unified platform for research and development of new traffic analysis methods. It covers several important topics not limited to analysis and detection. Originally, NEMEA has been developed for the purposes of Czech National Research and Education Network operator. Therefore, it is focused on handling high speed network traffic with links working at 100Gbps.