An apparatus, computer readable medium, and method are provided in one example embodiment and include a network device, an analysis module, and a tag module. The analysis module may be configured to perform a number of actions on the network data to identify network information about the network data. The tag module may be configured to determine whether a destination for the network data is within a set of destinations; and responsive to a determination that the destination for the network data is within the set of destinations: generate a metadata tag based on the network information, associate the metadata tag with the network data, and transmit the network information and the metadata tag.