Practical network security: experiences with ntop

As networks become large and heterogeneous, network administrators need efficient tools for monitoring network activities and enforcing global security. In open environments such as universities and research organisations, it is rather difficult to prevent access to core network resources without restricting users' freedom. Ntop is an open-source web-based traffic measurement and monitoring application written by the authors and widely available on the Internet. This paper shows how ntop can also be effectively used for network security as it is able to identify potential intruders and security flaws, as well as discover misconfigured or faulty applications that generate suspicious traffic. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.