A CMTS may instruct one or more cable modems to transmit an upstream test signal with a particular preamble (and or any other type of signature) in the upstream transmission bandwidth. The preamble may be within a significant band of the upstream transmission bandwidth. A leakage detection device may be brought in the vicinity of the cable network to listen for various signals. The leakage detection device may filter received signals to retain the portions thereof within a desired limited band and further filter the band-limited signals to reduce noise, e.g., removing the payload following the preamble. A correlation filter in the leakage detection device may compare the pattern in the band-limited filtered signal with a stored preamble. If there is a match, the leakage detection device may generate an indication that leakage is detected in the upstream transmission.