Abstract: One embodiment of the present invention provides a system that identifies a drift in a signal in a computer system. During operation, the system receives a sequence of quantized signal values of the signal. Next, the system generates a statistical distribution based on the sequence of quantized signal values, wherein the statistical distribution is generated using a set of counters, wherein each counter keeps track of the number of occurrences of an associated quantized signal value. The system periodically adjusts the counters by multiplying each counter by a compression factor if the system determines the sum of the set of counters is greater than or equal to a threshold. The system identifies the drift in the signal by comparing the statistical distribution with a reference distribution of the quantized signal values, wherein the reference distribution is associated with normal operation of the computer system.