Abstract: A system to facilitate identification of intermediate switches within a network switching fabric is described. The system includes a processor and a machine readable medium storing instructions that, when executed, cause the processor to detect a neighbor change event at a switch port of a network switch, determine whether a switch port neighbor device coupled to the switch port is trusted, set a status of the switch port as failed upon a determination that the switch port is untrusted, block network traffic through the switch port and generate an alert indicating that untrusted switch port neighbor device is coupled to the switch port.