Cybersecurity is the practice of defending computers, servers, mobile devices, electronic systems, networks and data from malicious attacks.
With advances in technology, cybercrime is on the rise. No company, organization, agency or individual is immune to cyberattacks.
The statistics aren’t pretty:
- Nearly 800,000 records are lost per day
- Over 24,000 malicious mobile apps are blocked daily
- Smart Home attacks are most prevalent in the U.S. (along with the U.K. and China)
- Healthcare industry ransomware attacks are expected to quadruple
- By 2021 cybercrime will cost $6 trillion
- And still, nearly one quarter of files aren’t protected
Obviously, cybercrime is serious and every company, organization, agency and individual needs to learn as much as possible on how to prevent possible cyberattacks. While new cybersecurity architectures are evolving, experts say the tried and true methods still work if done correctly.
Perhaps heading the list of creative preventative measures for organizations is the honeypot, an information system resource whose value lies in unauthorized or illicit use of that resource. In fact, its value lies in its being misused.
Generally, a honeypot operation consists of a computer, applications and data that simulate the behavior of a real system and appears as part of a network. But in reality, the honeypot is actually isolated and closely monitored. Because there is no reason for legitimate users to access a honeypot, any attempts to communicate with a honeypot should be considered hostile.
Information system resources include:
- Dedicated server
- A simulated system or state machine like deception tool kit or KFS sensor
- A service on a selected host, like Tiny Honeypot that listens to ports not in legitimate use
- A virtual server, such as the original honeynet and most other honeypots
- A single file with special attributes which is sometimes called a honeytoken or any number of other possibilities
Research honeypots analyze hacker activity with the objective of understanding cybercriminal methodology. This allows organizations to better protect assets from cyberattacks. It’s also possible to place data in a research honeypot with unique identifying properties that can help analysts track stolen data and identify connections between different participants in an attack.
Want to learn more about cybersecurity? Tonex offers nearly four dozen different cybersecurity courses in the following areas:
Cybersecurity Foundation: 30 courses
Wireless Security Training: 9 courses
Risk Management Framework Training: 6 courses
IoT (Internet of Things) Security: 1 course
For more information, questions, comments, contact us.