In one embodiment, a traffic model manager node receives data flows in a network and determines a degree to which the received data flows conform to one or more traffic models classifying particular types of data flows as non-malicious. If the degree to which the received data flows conform to the one or more traffic models is sufficient, the traffic model manager node characterizes the received data flows as non-malicious. Otherwise, the traffic model manager node provides the received data flows to a denial of service (DoS) attack detector in the network to allow the received data flows to be scanned for potential attacks.