I'm not expert, but I can imagine how it might be possible to determine BitTorrent traffic from Xbox 360, voice call, or simultaneous downloads from 20 different websites, using flow analysis and some other data points, to a fairly high degree of certainty, in some cases.
In support of my amateur assessment I present the following Wikipedia entry on the subject:
"Some ISPs are now using more sophisticated measures (e.g. pattern/timing analysis or categorizing ports based on side-channel data) to detect BitTorrent traffic. This means that even encrypted BitTorrent traffic can be throttled. However, with ISPs that continue to use simpler, less costly methods to identify and throttle BitTorrent, the current solution remains effective.[citation needed]
Analysis of the BitTorrent protocol encryption (a.k.a. MSE) has shown that statistical measurements of packet sizes and packet directions of the first 100 packets in a TCP session can be used to identify the obfuscated protocol with over 96% accuracy.[22]
The Sandvine application uses a different approach to disrupt BitTorrent traffic ..."
I guess like everything, it's an arms race; and a sufficiently determined network monitor probably has the average BitTorrent user blocked. Might not be worth the effort though.
I'm not expert, but I can imagine how it might be possible to determine BitTorrent traffic from Xbox 360, voice call, or simultaneous downloads from 20 different websites, using flow analysis and some other data points, to a fairly high degree of certainty, in some cases.
In support of my amateur assessment I present the following Wikipedia entry on the subject:
"Some ISPs are now using more sophisticated measures (e.g. pattern/timing analysis or categorizing ports based on side-channel data) to detect BitTorrent traffic. This means that even encrypted BitTorrent traffic can be throttled. However, with ISPs that continue to use simpler, less costly methods to identify and throttle BitTorrent, the current solution remains effective.[citation needed]
Analysis of the BitTorrent protocol encryption (a.k.a. MSE) has shown that statistical measurements of packet sizes and packet directions of the first 100 packets in a TCP session can be used to identify the obfuscated protocol with over 96% accuracy.[22]
The Sandvine application uses a different approach to disrupt BitTorrent traffic ..."
I guess like everything, it's an arms race; and a sufficiently determined network monitor probably has the average BitTorrent user blocked. Might not be worth the effort though.
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BitTorrent_protocol_encryption