Analyzing Network Metadata
by Paul Asadoorian on October 1, 2009
When analyzing network traffic it’s typically not as important to look at the contents of the packets; rather the information about them, where they are going and how they got there. This “network metadata” (often referred to as NetFlow data) can reveal interesting information about your network and often uncover misconfigurations, policy abuses and security incidents. I relate it to the movie "The Matrix". In the movie there is a scene where the characters are looking at computer screens displaying “the matrix”. Those who are not accustomed to looking at the matrix will not see "The Blonde" or the "Brunette", but will just see a bunch of green characters.
