Skype-Hunter: A real-time system for the detection and classification of Skype traffic

Abstract

In the previous years, Skype has gained more and more popularity, since it is seen as the best VoIP software with good quality of sound, ease of use and one that works everywhere and with every OS. Because of its great diffusion, both the operators and the users are, for different reasons, interested in detecting Skype traffic. In this paper we propose a real-time algorithm (named Skype-Hunter) to detect and classify Skype traffic. In more detail, this novel method, by means of both signature-based and statistical procedures, is able to correctly reveal and classify the signaling traffic as well as the data traffic (calls and file transfers). To assess the effectiveness of the algorithm, experimental tests have been performed with several traffic data sets, collected in different network scenarios. Our system outperforms the 'classical' statistical traffic classifiers as well as the state-of-the-art ad hoc Skype classifier. © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.