SLIC: Self-Learning Intelligent Classifier for network traffic

Internet traffic classification plays an important role in the field of network security and management. Past research works utilize flow-level statistical features for accurate and efficient classification, such as the nearest-neighbor based supervised classifier. However, classification accuracy of supervised approaches is significantly affected if the size of the training set is small. More importantly, the model built using a static training set will not be able to adapt to the non-static nature of Internet traffic. With the drastic evolution of the Internet, network traffic cannot be assumed to be static. In this paper, we develop the concept of ‘self-learning’ to deal with these two challenges. We propose, design and develop a new classifier called Self-Learning Intelligent Classifier (SLIC). SLIC starts with a small number of training instances, self-learns and rebuilds the classification model dynamically, with the aim of achieving high accuracy in classifying non-static traffic flows. We carry out performance evaluations using two real-world traffic traces, and demonstrate the effectiveness of SLIC. The results show that SLIC achieves significant improvement in accuracy compared to the state-of-the-art approach.