Disclosed are methods and apparatus for detecting anomalies in a storage area network (SAN). Provided are one or more anomaly type(s) and corresponding actions to be performed when the one or more anomaly types are detected. Traffic in the SAN is then inspected in order to detect the one or more provided anomaly type(s). When a one of the provided one or more anomaly type(s) is detected, one or more of the corresponding action(s) is performed. The provided anomaly type(s) may include one or more of the following: a read or write access pattern anomaly, excessive login or control requests, a bandwidth usage anomaly, a configuration anomaly, and a hardware anomaly. The provided corresponding actions may include logging and/or publishing the detected anomaly, enabling capture of the detected anomaly by an analysis device, re-authentication of a host that is responsible for the anomaly, disable access control for a host that is responsible for the anomaly, rate control of an anomalous link, and shut down of an anomalous link.