24-05-2014, 11:20 AM
HONEYPOTS FOR NETWORK SECURITY
HONEYPOTS FOR NETWORK .doc (Size: 314.5 KB / Downloads: 13)
Abstract:
For every consumer and business that is on the Internet, viruses, worms and crackers are a few security threats. There are the obvious tools that aid information security professionals against these problems such as anti-virus software, firewalls and intrusion detection systems, but these systems can only react to or prevent attacks-they cannot give us information about the attacker, the tools used or even the methods employed. Given all of these security questions, honeypots are a novel approach to network security and security research alike.
A honeypot is used in the area of computer and Internet security. It is a resource, which is intended to be attacked and compromised to gain more information about the attacker and the used tools. It can also be deployed to attract and divert an attacker from their real targets.
Introduction:
Global communication is getting more important every day. At the same time, computer crimes are increasing. Countermeasures are developed to detect or prevent attacks - most of these measures are based on known facts, known attack patterns. As in the military, it is important to know, who your enemy is, what kind of strategy he uses, what tools he utilizes and what he is aiming for. Gathering this kind of information is not easy but important. By knowing attack strategies, countermeasures can be improved and vulnerabilities can be fixed. To gather as much information as possible is one main goal of a honeypot.
WHAT IS A HONEYPOT?
A honeypot is primarily an instrument for information gathering and learning. A honeypot is an information system resource whose value lies in the unauthorized zed or illicit use of that resource. More generally a honeypot is a trap set to deflect or detect attempts at unauthorized use of information systems. Essentially; honeypots are resources that allow anyone or anything to access it and al production value. More often than not, a honeypot is more importantly, honeypots do not have any resimply an unprotected, unpatched, unused workstation on a network being closely watched by administrators.
Its primary purpose is not to be an ambush for the black hat community to catch them in action and to press charges against them. The focus lies on a silent collection of as much information as possible about their attack patterns, used programs, purpose of attack and the black hat community itself. All this information is used to learn more about the black hat proceedings and motives, as well as their technical knowledge and abilities. This is just a primary purpose of a honeypot. There are a lot other possibilities for a honeypot - divert hackers from productive systems or catch a hacker while conducting an attack are just two possible examples.
WHAT IS A HONEYNET?
Two or more honeypots on a network form a honeynet. Typically, a honeynet is used for monitoring and/or more diverse network in which one honeypot may not be sufficient. Honeynets (and honeypots) are usually implemented as parts of larger network intrusion-detection systems. Honeynet is a network of production systems. Honeynets represent the extreme of research honeypots. Their primary value lies in research, gaining information on threats that exist in the Internet community today.
The two main reasons why honeypots are deployed are:
1. To learn how intruders probe and attempt to gain access to your systems and gain insight into attack methodologies to better protect real production systems.
2. To gather forensic information required to aid in the apprehension or prosecution of intruders.
RESEARCH USING HONEYPOTS:
Honeypots are also used for research purposes to gain extensive information on threats, information few other technologies are capable of gathering. One of the greatest problems security professionals face is lack of information or intelligence on cyber threats. How can your organization defend itself against an enemy when you do not know who the enemy is? Research honeypots address this problem by collecting information on threats. Organizations can then use this information for a variety of purposes including analyzing trends, identifying new methods or tools, identifying the attackers and their communities, ensuring early warning and prediction or understanding attacker’s motivation.
ADVANTAGES OF HONEYPOTS:
1. They collect small amounts of information that have great value. This captured information provides an in-depth look at attacks that very few other technologies offer.
2. Honeypots are designed to capture any activity and can work in encrypted networks.
3. They can lure the intruders very easily.
4. Honeypots are relatively simple to create and maintain.
DISADVANTAGES OF HONEYPOTS:
1. Honeypots add complexity to the network. Increased complexity may lead to increased exposure to exploitation.
2. There is also a level of risk to consider, since a honeypot may be comprised and used as a platform to attack another network. However this risk can be mitigated by controlling the level of interaction that attackers have with the honeypot.
3. It is an expensive resource for some corporations. Since building honeypots requires that you have at least a whole system dedicated to it and this may be expensive.
CONCLUSION:
Honeypots are positioned to become a key tool to defend the corporate enterprise from hacker attacks it’s a way to spy on your enemy; it might even be a form of camouflage. Hackers could be fooled into thinking they've accessed a corporate network, when actually they're just banging around in a honeypot -- while the real network remains safe and sound.
Honeypots have gained a significant place in the overall intrusion protection strategy of the enterprise. Security experts do not recommend that these systems replace existing intrusion detection security technologies; they see honeypots as complementary technology to network- and host-based intrusion protection.
The advantages that honeypots bring to intrusion protection strategies are hard to ignore. In time, as security managers understand the benefits, honeypots will become an essential ingredient in an enterprise-level security operation.
We do believe that although honeypots have legal issues now, they do provide beneficial information regarding the security of a network .It is important that new legal policies be formulated to foster and support research in this area. This will help to solve the current challenges and make it possible to use honeypots for the benefit of the broader internet community.