Initialization and acquisition of peers in a peers' list in a peer-to-peer network

1. A method for creating an initial list of peers in a peer-to-peer (P2P) network, the method comprising:

designating a selected P2P protocol;

providing a predetermined function for indicating whether the method should continue or be terminated;

obtaining an external list of potential peers from a service provider of the network;

providing a spy node to detect other nodes that participate in the P2P network using said selected P2P protocol;

designating a node from said external list as a suspect node;

initiating a connection from said spy node to said suspect node;

attempting a transaction from said spy node to said suspect node over said connection;

adding said suspect node to the initial list of peers if and only if said transaction is successful wherein at least one classifying heuristic is used to determine that said transaction is not successful; wherein the classifying heuristic is one of: transaction time, minimum transaction time, maximum transaction time, amount of data, minimum amount of data, maximum amount of data, amount of upstream data, amount of downstream data, ratio between upstream and downstream data, number of connections and rate of connections; and

repeating said designating a node, said initiating a connection, said attempting a transaction and said adding said suspect node if indicated by said predetermined function, and terminating the method otherwise.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein said providing a spy node comprises adding a node to the network.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein said providing a spy node comprises configuring an existing node of the network.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein said transaction is one of: file download, file upload, and query.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein said selected P2P protocol has at least one characteristic, and wherein said classifying heuristic is capable of identifying said at least one characteristic of said selected P2P protocol.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein said selected P2P protocol is at least one of: AIM, FastTrack, FreeNet, Gnutella, ICQ, and Napster.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising providing a packet classifier.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein said packet classifier is operative to classify layer seven.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein said packet classifier is operative to classify encrypted P2P protocols.

10. The method of claim 8 , wherein said classification further comprises classification of: layer two, layer three, layer four, layer five, layer six, packet bundles, flow identification, process flow, transaction time, minimum transaction time, maximum transaction time, amount of data, minimum amount of data, maximum amount of data, amount of upstream data, amount of downstream data, and ratio between upstream and downstream data.

11. The method of claim 7 , wherein said packet classifier is further capable of monitoring a network traffic to and from said spy node.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein said packet classifier is operative to allow for said updating of the peer list.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein said updating of the peer list comprises:

classifying a source and destination of a packet; and

updating said peer list based on said classification.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein said classification is one of a: spy, known peer, temporary known peer, known IP address, and unknown user.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein communication from the spy node results in the destination IP address and destination port to be listed in a known peers list if said communication is to one of three nodes: temporary known peer, known IP address, and unknown user.

16. The method of claim 14 , wherein each combination of an IP address and port number is associated with a counter.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein the value of said counter is increased by a predetermined delta value corresponding to said classification.

18. The method of claim 17 , wherein a first delta value is added to said counter when communication is made from a known participant to a temporary known participant.

19. The method of claim 17 , wherein a second delta value is added to said counter when communication is made from a known participant to a known IP participant.

20. The method of claim 17 , wherein a third delta value is added to said counter when communication is made from a known participant to an unknown user.

21. The method of claim 17 , wherein a fourth delta value is added to said counter when communication is made from a temporary known participant to a temporary known participant.

22. The method of claim 17 , wherein a fifth delta value is added to said counter when communication is made from a temporary known participant to an unknown participant.

23. The method of claim 17 , wherein a sixth delta value is added to said counter when communication is made from a known IP participant to a temporary known participant.

24. The method of claim 17 , wherein a seventh delta value is added to said counter when communication is made from a known IP participant to a known IP participant.

25. The method of claim 17 , wherein if said counter has a value above a minimum value and below a maximum value then a participant is considered to be a member of the P2P network.

26. The method of claim 25 , wherein said minimum value and said maximum value are determined over a predefined period of time.

27. The method of claim 14 , wherein communication from an unknown user results in the source IP address of said unknown user to be listed in a known IP participants list if communication is to one of the spy node and a known participant.