Honeypots and HoneynetsHoneypots and HoneynetsSource: The HoneyNet Project http://www.honeynet.org/

Mehedy Masud

September 16, 2009

mehedy@utdallas.edu

Why HoneyPotsWhy HoneyPots A great deal of the security profession

and the IT world depend on honeypots. Honeypots◦ Build anti-virus signatures.◦ Build SPAM signatures and filters.◦ ISP’s identify compromised systems.◦ Assist law-enforcement to track criminals.◦ Hunt and shutdown botnets.◦ Malware collection and analysis.

What are HoneypotsWhat are HoneypotsHoneypots are real or emulated

vulnerable systems ready to be attacked.

Primary value of honeypots is to collect information.

This information is used to better identify, understand and protect against threats.

Honeypots add little direct value to protecting your network.

Types of HoneyPotTypes of HoneyPotServer: Put the honeypot on the

Internet and let the bad guys come to you.

Client: Honeypot initiates and interacts with servers

Other: Proxies

Types of HoneyPotTypes of HoneyPotLow-interaction

◦ Emulates services, applications, and OS’s.◦ Low risk and easy to deploy/maintain, but

capture limited information.

High-interaction◦ Real services, applications, and OS’s◦ Capture extensive information, but high

risk and time intensive to maintain.

Types of HoneyPotTypes of HoneyPotProduction

◦ Easy to use/deploy◦ Capture limited information◦ Mainly used by companies/corporations◦ Placed inside production network w/other

servers◦ Usually low interaction

Research◦ Complex to maintain/deploy◦ Capture extensive information◦ Primarily used for research, military, or govt.

orgs

Examples Of HoneypotsExamples Of Honeypots

BackOfficer FriendlyKFSensorHoneydHoneynets

Low Interaction

High Interaction

HoneynetsHoneynetsHigh-interaction honeypot designed to

capture in-depth information.Information has different value to

different organizations.Its an architecture you populate with

live systems, not a product or software.

Any traffic entering or leaving is suspect.

How It WorksHow It Works A highly controlled network where

every packet entering or leaving is monitored, captured, and analyzed.◦ Data Control◦ Data Capture◦ Data Analysis

Honeynet ArchitectureHoneynet Architecture

Data ControlData Control• Mitigate risk of honeynet being used to

harm non-honeynet systems.• Count outbound connections.• IPS (Snort-Inline)• Bandwidth Throttling

No Data ControlNo Data Control

Internet

No Restrictions

No Restrictions

Honeypot

Honeypot

Data ControlData Control

Internet

Honeywall

Honeypot

Honeypot

No Restrictions

Connections Limited Packet Scrubbed

Data CaptureData CaptureCapture all activity at a variety of

levels.Network activity.Application activity.System activity.

SebekSebekHidden kernel module that

captures all host activityDumps activity to the network.Attacker cannot sniff any traffic

based on magic number and dst port.

Sebek ArchitectureSebek Architecture

Honeywall CDROMHoneywall CDROMAttempt to combine all

requirements of a Honeywall onto a single, bootable CDROM.

May, 2003 - Released EeyoreMay, 2005 - Released Roo

Roo Honeywall CDROMRoo Honeywall CDROMBased on Fedora Core 3Vastly improved hardware and

international support.Automated, headless installationNew Walleye interface for web based

administration and data analysis.Automated system updating.

InstallationInstallationJust insert CDROM and boot, it installs

to local hard drive.After it reboots for the first time, it

runs a hardening script based on NIST and CIS security standards.

Following installation, you get a command prompt and system is ready to configure.

Further InformationFurther Informationhttp://www.honeynet.org/http://www.honeynet.org/book

Network TelescopeNetwork TelescopeAlso known as a darknet, internet motion

sensor or black hole Allows one to observe different large-scale

events taking place on the Internet. The basic idea is to observe traffic targeting the

dark (unused) address-space of the network.Since all traffic to these addresses is suspicious,

one can gain information about possible network attacks ◦ random scanning worms, and DDoS backscatter

As well as other misconfigurations by observing it.

HoneytokenHoneytokenhoneytokens are honeypots that are not

computer systems. Their value lies not in their use, but in their

abuse. As such, they are a generalization of such ideas

as the honeypot and the canary values often used in stack protection schemes.

Honeytokens can exist in almost any form, ◦ from a dead, fake account to a ◦ database entry that would only be selected by malicious

queries, ◦ making the concept ideally suited to ensuring data integrity—

any use of them is inherently suspicious if not necessarily malicious.

HoneytokenHoneytokenIn general, they don't necessarily

prevent any tampering with the data, ◦ but instead give the administrator a further

measure of confidence in the data integrity.An example of a honeytoken is a fake

email address used to track if a mailing list has been stolen

HoneymonkeyHoneymonkeyHoneyMonkey,

◦ short for Strider HoneyMonkey Exploit Detection System, is a Microsoft Research honeypot.

The implementation uses a network of computers ◦ to crawl the World Wide Web searching for websites that use

browser exploits to install malware on the HoneyMonkey computer.

◦ A snapshot of the memory, executables and registry of the honeypot computer is recorded before crawling a site.

◦ After visiting the site, the state of memory, executables, and registry is compared to the previous snapshot.

◦ The changes are analyzed to determine whether the visited site installed malware onto the honeypot computer.

HoneymonkeyHoneymonkeyHoneyMonkey is based on the honeypot

concept, with the difference that it actively seeks websites that try to exploit it.

The term was coined by Microsoft Research in 2005.

With honeymonkeys it is possible to find open security holes that aren't yet publicly known but are exploited by attackers.

TarpitTarpitA tarpit (also known as Teergrube, the

German word for tarpit) is a service on a computer system (usually a server) that delays incoming connections for as long as possible.

The technique was developed as a defense against a computer worm, and

the idea is that network abuses such as spamming or broad scanning are less effective if they take too long.

The name is analogous with a tar pit, in which animals can get bogged down and slowly sink under the surface.