US Patent 10021116 Network segmentation

A method and system for segmenting a network including a plurality of hosts is disclosed. In an example embodiment, the network is a provider network. The method receives network activity information describing network traffic between hosts of the plurality. The method generates observations from the network activity information and organizes the observations into clusters. The method determines a profile for each cluster that corresponds to a potential system type implemented by one or more of the hosts of the medical provider network. The method determines segments within the provider network based on the profiled system types.