implementing-network-traffic-baselining

# Implementing Network Traffic Baselining ## Overview Network traffic baselining establishes normal communication patterns by analyzing historical NetFlow/IPFIX data to create statistical profiles of expected behavior. This skill uses Python pandas to compute hourly and daily traffic distributions, per-host byte/packet counts, protocol ratios, and top-N talker profiles. Anomalies are detected using z-score thresholds and IQR (interquartile range) outlier methods, enabling SOC analysts to identify deviations such as data exfiltration spikes, beaconing patterns, and unusual port usage. ## When to Use - When deploying or configuring implementing network traffic baselining capabilities in your environment - When establishing security controls aligned to compliance requirements - When building or improving security architecture for this domain - When conducting security assessments that require this implementation ## Prerequisites - NetFlow v5/v9 or IPFIX flow data exported as CSV or JSON - Python 3.8+ with pandas and numpy libraries - Historical flow data (minimum 7 days recommended for baseline) ## Steps 1. Ingest NetFlow/IPFIX records from CSV or JSON exports 2. Compute hourly and daily traffic volume distributions (bytes, packets, flows) 3. Build per-source-IP baseline profiles with mean, median, standard deviation 4. Calculate protocol and port distribution baselines 5. Apply z-score anomaly detection to identify statistical outliers 6. Flag flows exceeding IQR-based...