What is A Honeypot | Definition and Meaning

A honeypot is a computer or network designed to gain intelligence from malicious entities such as botnets, or distract them from the real target. Such intelligence can be used for monitoring and reconaissance, and also to provide actionable data to an Intrusion Prevention System. It is something of an outlier in that the creators of a honeypot want it to be attacked in order to understand the attacker’s signatures and behaviours. Honeypots can be used to detect password cracking. There are two main types of honeypot, the first is high-interaction honeypots, which are more complex but more realistic and effective, which can be as advanced as fully replicating a target system, making honeypot detection much harder for the attacker. The second main type of honeypot is low-interaction honeypots, which are simpler but easier to build and maintain. Honeypots may also be categorised as medium-interactivity.