LINEARSTACK
March 23, 2023

What is the Role of Honeypots in Cybersecurity Defense?

Leveraging honeypots in your environment

A honeypot is a computer system designed to attract hackers who attempt to break into it. Honeypots can be set up to resemble legitimate servers, so they're often used to catch attackers before they do any damage. They're also helpful in training new employees to avoid getting hacked.

Production honeypots are tools for capturing sensitive data from unauthorized intrusions. They're also helpful for researching the behavior of hackers and the ways they interact within networks.

Real-World Case - Dutch Police Co-Opt a Darknet Market

Dutch police used a honeypot to catch people who bought drugs online. The honeypot operation gave them access to detailed information about drug orders and helped them identify high-value targets. Eventually, however, the honeypots caused the market to be closed down. The honeypot program provided 10,000 foreign email accounts to drug dealers so they could communicate with each other.

How do Honeypots Work?

A honeypot attempts to simulate a natural system that would attract hackers. Honeypots usually comprise a computer, software, and data that mimic the behaviors of a realistic approach. They appear as part of a network, but they're isolated from the rest of the network. There is no reason for legitimate clients to connect to them, so any attempts to contact them are hostile.

Honeypot Network and SpamBots

Honeypot Network is a network of malicious software created using IP protocol to trap cybercriminals in the honeypot. The network guides the cybercriminal to the website where the cybercriminal attempts to extract the vulnerability or source code. 

Spambots are systems designed to lure spam. Once they get caught, they're destroyed. A honeypot is an online trap where people send messages to it hoping to catch spambots. When a bot gets caught, it's deleted.

Honeypot traps catch attackers by looking like something they might want to future attack. For example, honeypot traps can look like payment gateways, often targeted by attackers because of their sensitive data. Honeypots and honey walls are excellent tools for gathering threat intelligence data to assist SecOps and DevOps teams with their incident response capabilities.

Benefits of a Honeypot

Honeypots are critical to organisations to help protect against attacks. They aim to expose vulnerable areas within systems and divert attackers from the correct targets. Assume that organisations may collect valuable information from the hackers within the malware frenzy; honeypots can help companies prioritize their security efforts according to methods employed in the case. The honeypot has several valuable features, including detecting malicious activity and redirecting attackers to a safe area.

Types of Honeypots?

Low-Interaction

Low-interaction honeypot systems detect attacks against an organisation's computer network. These honeypots collect data about hackers who attempt to gain unauthorized access to sensitive areas of the network. A honeypot system comprises two parts: the honeypot, which contains legitimate software, and the honeypot server, which collects data about the attacker.

High-Interaction 

A high-interactivity honey pot is an advanced type used to detect and identify malicious activity within a network. It often deploys these honeypots in large numbers across multiple networks and can take up many system resources. They allow organisations to gain valuable intelligence about their attackers, such as their identity, location, and methodologies.

Consumption

Security professionals use the threat intelligence collected within their security operations center to learn from the data collected. This insight into attacks helps organisations and MSSPs in their threat-hunting andthreat-response capabilities. 

Risks of Honeypots

While it can be tempting to use honeypots for threat identification and mitigation, it can cause serious concerns about their deployment and safety implications.

When the system is fully fledged, it can be misused in certain situations and used in attacks against other networks. However, when the design is minimal, it can only detect attacks against itself. 

Next Generation Honeypot - Deception technology

One new class of honeypots is called deceptive technologies. This security technique uses automated data processing and mining to automate data collection and analysis. Deception Software allows organizations to process information faster and expand the use of more complex deception environments.

Role of the MSSP Leveraging Honeypots

MSSPs are at a crucial point for cybersecurity. With the increasing number of digital footprints expanding, so do the dangers faced by every company, especially MSSPs and their clients. From remote and hybrid workspaces to the growing use of clouds for day-to-day handling operations, many additional risks exist and more ways to penetrate critical systems.

For more information on how to implement and manage honeypots as part of your cybersecurity strategy speak to one of our LinearStack experts, today.

LinearStack's Strategy Partnership with Palo Alto Networks, Citrix, and Imperva

Recently named as one of Palo Alto Networks' top MSSPs supporting the Cortex XDR stack with their SOC-as-a-Service offering, LinearStack continues to grow its team of certified Cyber Defence Analysts, Threat Hunters, Incident Responders, CTI specialists, Malware analysts, security architectures, and engineers with two geo-redundant operations centres across the globe.

Privately held, LinearStack has grown its practice by expanding its offerings, including increasing its application delivery practice with partners with Citrix and Imperva.

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