You work as a freelance security consultant. You are now working for a large government and have been contracted to create a stand-alone system that should attract malicious activity. The system should mimic an existing productive system but with fake non-sensitive data. The activity in this new system should be recorded so security analysts can review and identify patterns in the malicious activity. What best defines this type of system?
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Answer Description
This type of system is called a honeypot or honeynet. A honeypot is a system created specifically to attract hackers and act as a decoy system. Most likely it will have some obvious vulnerability like a misconfigured proxy or firewall to attract attackers. You can think of it as the digital equivalent of a string operation. By creating an easy target you can avoid attacks on the productive network and also learn what types of vulnerabilities and attack types exist in the honeypot/net to better protect the productive network.
Wikipedia
In computer terminology, a honeypot is a computer security mechanism set to detect, deflect, or, in some manner, counteract attempts at unauthorized use of information systems. Generally, a honeypot consists of data (for example, in a network site) that appears to be a legitimate part of the site which contains information or resources of value to attackers. It is actually isolated, monitored, and capable of blocking or analyzing the attackers. This is similar to police sting operations, colloquially known as "baiting" a suspect.The main use for this network decoy is to distract potential attackers from more important information and machines on the real network, learn about the forms of attacks they can suffer, and examine such attacks during and after the exploitation of a honeypot.
It provides a way to prevent and see vulnerabilities in a specific network system. A honeypot is a decoy used to protect a network from present or future attacks. Honeypots derive their value from the use by attackers. If not interacted with, the honeypot has little to no value. Honeypots can be used for everything from slowing down or stopping automated attacks, capturing new exploits to gathering intelligence on emerging threats or early warning and prediction.
Honeypot_(computing) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 