What is Honeypots honeynets?
Honeypots honeynets Definition: Machines that exist on the network, but do not contain sensitive or valuable data, and are meant to distract and occupy malicious or unauthorized intruders, as a means of delaying their attempts to access production data/assets.
Understanding Honeypots honeynets
Machines that exist on the network, but do not contain sensitive or valuable data, and are meant to distract and occupy malicious or unauthorized intruders, as a means of delaying their attempts to access production data assets. A number of machines of this kind, linked together as a network or subnet, are referred to as a honeynet. Honeypots are decoy systems designed to attract attackers, study their tactics, and divert them from legitimate targets. Honeynets are networks of honeypots working together to simulate a realistic network environment. These deception technologies enable threat intelligence gathering and early attack detection. Honeypot implementation is addressed in frameworks like NIST SP 800-53 as a detection control. Organizations implement honeypots through purpose-built systems with comprehensive monitoring, isolation from production environments, and detailed logging of all activities. For example, a financial institution might deploy honeypots that appear to be payment processing systems to detect and analyze attacks targeting financial data, with security teams receiving immediate alerts when attackers interact with these systems. Related terms: Deception technology, Intrusion detection, Threat intelligence, Cyber counterintelligence, Attack detection, Security monitoring, Cyber threat hunting.