Using Honey Pots To Improve Your Systems Security
It is possible to feel completely confident that your computer will never be hacked into by having the right security in place. But what is the right security? How can you feel confident? What technology is available these days for security? How do hackers work?
If you want to know, read on
First step to attack someones network is to gather information about that network, as much as you can. May it be technical or non-technical, for example where all branch offices are located? Who the target partners with? It can help you understand possible topology and technologies in place.
Technical information may contain IP addresses in use, services available, etc. More services running on servers means more entry points. More entry points make it easier to get access.
The more services running on servers means more points of entry for the hackers. For example, if you saw that server A only had port 21 open, but server B had 7 different ports open, then server B is the clear choice for entry because each open port is an entry point and you get full access if you can bypass the security to one port entry point, so the one with more options would be the clear choice.
Now what if I deployed SERVER-B just to grab your attention, distracting you from some meaningful server SERVER-A. I may install a (fake) server SERVER-B for hackers to attack so as to safe guard my production servers, as soon as they start I can now study attack patterns. Is it not a brilliant idea? That’s called the honey pot.
A honey pot system is essentially, a trap set to lure hackers into a server that appears to be part of your main server system, but is in fact on its own, monitored and has been made to look like it contains valuable data but in fact contains nothing of any use to anyone.
A honeypot is valuable as a surveillance and early-warning tool. It can carry risks to a network, and must be handled with care. If they are not properly walled off, an attacker can use them to break into a system. Honeypots can be classified based on their deployment and based on their level of involvement. Based on the deployment, can be classified as
1. Production Honeypots 2. Research Honeypots
Production honeypots are easy to use, capture only limited information, and are used primarily by companies or corporations; Production honeypots are placed inside the production network with other production servers by organization to improve their overall state of security
Research Honey Pots: These are run by volunteers or an educational organisation to simply gather information about how hackers work, their motives and tactics in order to create better protection from them.
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Tagged with: business • Business Online • computers • hackers • internet • IT • management • Network • online • online protection • Security • strategy • systems • technology
Filed under: Business Online
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