A network monitoring system (10) for monitoring a network along which network traffic flows in a form of packets. The system comprises circuitry (36, 42) for receiving a packet communicated along the network and for determining whether the received packet satisfies a set of conditions. The system further comprises circuitry (36/30, 46), responsive to a determination that the received packet satisfies the set, for determining a measure, wherein the measure is determined over a defined time interval and comprises a ratio of packet arrival variance and a mean of packets arriving during the time interval and for comparing the measure to a threshold. Lastly, the system comprises circuitry (36, 52), responsive to the measure exceeding the threshold, for adjusting network resources.