We investigate the action of global noise and local channels, namely, amplitude-damping, phase-damping, and depolarizing channels, on monogamy of quantum correlations, such as negativity and quantum discord, in three-qubit systems. We discuss the monotonic and non-monotonic variation, and robustness of the monogamy scores. By using monogamy scores, we propose a two-step protocol to conclusively identify the noise applied to the quantum system, by using generalized Greenberger–Horne–Zeilinger and generalized W states as resource states. We discuss a possible generalization of the results to higher number of parties. © 2016 Elsevier B.V.