System and method for detection of aberrant network behavior by clients of a network access gateway

A method for detecting aberrant network in a first network interface coupled to one or more clients, comprising:

• receiving network communications at the first network interface, wherein each of the network communications is associated with a first client;
• determining if an aberrant network behavior is occurring with respect to the first client wherein determining if the network behavior is aberrant comprises:
• analyzing the received network communications based upon one or more rules to determine if the network communication matches any of the one or more rules, wherein the one or more rules are configured to identify particular network communications,
• if a network communication associated with the first client matches a first rule:
• updating a first list of statistical information associated with the first client and the first rule wherein the statistical information is accumulated over a time period, the first list is one of a first set of lists corresponding to the first client and each list comprises statistical information associated with at least one of the one or more rules;
• and
• testing the statistical information in each list of the first set of lists using a set of conditions corresponding to aberrant network behavior, wherein each of the set of conditions is associated with at least one list of the first set of lists.

A method for detecting aberrant network, comprising providing a network interface card, the network interface card comprising a first network interface coupled to one or more clients and the first network interface is operable to receive network communications, wherein each of the network communications is associated with a first client and the network interface card is operable to determine if an aberrant network behavior is occurring with respect to the first client, wherein determining if the network behavior is aberrant utilizes:

• a network processing subsystem configured to:
• analyze the received network communications based upon one or more rules to determine if the network communication matches any of the one or more rules, wherein the one or more rules are configured to identify particular network communications,
• if a network communication from a first client matches a first rule, forming a notification corresponding to the first rule and first client and providing the notification to a suspicion accumulator;
• and
• the suspicion accumulator is configured to:
• maintain a set of lists, the set of lists corresponding to the first client and list of comprising statistical information associated with at least one of the one or more rules, the statistical information for each list accumulated over a time period;
• receive the notification from the network processing subsystems;
• determine that the notification is associated with the first rule and the first client;
• update a first list of the set of lists associated with the first client and the first rule based on the notification;
• and
• test the statistical information in each list of the set of lists using a set of conditions corresponding to aberrant network behavior, wherein each of the set of conditions is associated with at least one list of the sets of lists.