Honeypots and Honeynets Alex Dietz

To discover methods used to breach a system To discover new root kits To learn what changes are made to a system and their effects To not be discovered To discourage an attack

Production honeypot vs Research honeypot Production honey pots are easy to use and capture only limited amount of information Research honeypots are complex and expensive to maintain

Honeypots vs Honeynets Honeypots are usually a complete system or virtual machine and are low-interaction. Honeynets are second generation honeypots and are very high-interaction

Both must provide Data capture Data control Data analysis

Data capture and Staying undetected Log information to a remote server Use software to detect changes to files Use a rootkit to hide all logging services – Implements its own TCP/IP stack to prevent logging traffic from being detected

Data control Try to prevent outgoing malicious traffic – Use a honey wall Traditionally a layer 2 bridging device that has no IP stack, meaning the device should be invisible to anyone interacting with the honeypots or honeynets. img:

Data analysis Typically done by people viewing logs – Realtime – Logs Img: Kent State University

Legality and Liability The operator can be held accountable if the honeypot is compromised and used to launch additional attacks. -Varies state by state Can violate the Federal Wiretap Act -Under most situations they are exempt Ex. Attacker sets up an IRC server and users connect without knowing the system has been compromised

Honeypots and honeynets are flexible Using virtual machines honeypots and honeynets can be set up with many different configurations – Using a virtual machine lowers its security

Can also connect to webservers to determine their malicious nature – Most search engines do this as they crawl webpages img: google.com/support

Summery Honeypots are a great detection mechanism Honeynets are an excellent research tool Can be configured to fit any need or cost Poorly controlled honeypots and honeynets can get you in trouble

Software Open sourceCommercial HoneyD Symantec Decoy Server enterprisesecurity.symantec.com/product s/products.cfm?ProductID=157 LaBrea Tarpit Labrea.sf.net Specter Sebek Project.honeynet.org/tools/sebek

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