Various embodiments of the present invention set forth techniques for security monitoring of a network connection, including analyzing network traffic data for a network connection associated with a computing device, identifying one or more network traffic metrics for the network connection based on the network traffic data, determining that the network connection corresponds to at least one network connection profile based on the one or more network traffic metrics, detecting a potential security threat for the network connection based on the one or more network traffic metrics and the at least one network connection profile, and initiating a mitigation action with respect to the network connection in response to detecting the potential security threat. Advantageously, the techniques allow detecting potential security threats based on network traffic metrics and categorizations, without requiring monitoring of the content or the total volume of all traffic exchanged via the connection.