Method and system for generating durable host identifiers using network artifacts

A host identification engine receives network traffic from a network and uses one or more artifact extractors to extract artifact data items that can identify a host. The artifact data items can be stored in a host signature database. Network addresses to which the hosts correspond can be stored in a network address database. A mapping table can be implemented to match the data in the signature database and network database to generate durable host identification data that can accurately track hosts as they use different identification data and/or move between hosts.