Definitions of Honeypots

We’ve been talking about honeypots for several chapters now, with only a simple, rather intuitive definition of the term. It’s time to get more precise. There is no way we can discuss the value of honeypots or how they work if we don’t agree first on what a honeypot is.

As I mentioned earlier, I believe that the lack of a clear, widely accepted definition of a honeypot is one of the main reasons the security community has been so slow to adopt them. Everyone has his or her own definition of a honeypot. This creates a great deal of confusion and miscommunication. Some think a honeypot is a tool for deception, whereas others consider it a weapon to lure hackers, and still others believe it is simply another intrusion detection ...

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