Biruk Aregu - Cybersecurity Analyst

Why Build a Honeypot?

When I started my cybersecurity journey, I wanted to understand how real-world attacks happen. Reading about attacks in textbooks is one thing, but witnessing them unfold in real-time is an entirely different learning experience. That's why I built a honeypot threat intelligence system.

What is a Honeypot?

A honeypot is a decoy system designed to attract and detect unauthorized access attempts. It mimics vulnerable services like SSH, HTTP, or FTP to lure attackers, allowing security researchers to study attack patterns, techniques, and origins without putting real systems at risk.

Types of Honeypots

Low-interaction honeypots: Simulate basic services with limited functionality
Medium-interaction honeypots: Provide more realistic environments with partial emulation
High-interaction honeypots: Full operating systems that attackers can fully compromise

What I Discovered

Within the first 24 hours of deployment, my honeypot detected over 300 SSH brute force attempts from 15 different countries. The most common attack patterns included:

Automated brute force attacks using common username/password combinations
Port scanning from botnet-infected devices
Malware drop attempts targeting specific vulnerabilities
Reconnaissance activities from known threat actor infrastructure

The Geography of Attacks

Attack sources spanned globally, with the highest volume coming from compromised servers in China, Russia, and the United States. However, it's important to note that the geographic source of an attack rarely indicates the true location of the attacker—most attacks originate from compromised infrastructure.

Technical Implementation

My honeypot system was built using Node.js and deployed on cloud infrastructure with the following components:

SSH honeypot service: Captured authentication attempts and commands
Data logging system: Stored attack details including IP, timestamp, and attempted credentials
Real-time visualization dashboard: Displayed live threat intelligence with geographic mapping
Automated threat analysis: Classified attacks by type and severity

Key Lessons Learned

Building this honeypot taught me several critical cybersecurity lessons:

The internet is constantly under attack: Within seconds of exposing a service, automated scanners will find it
Default credentials are a major risk: Most attacks attempt common usernames like "admin", "root", and "user"
Botnets drive most attacks: The majority of attempts come from compromised devices, not individual hackers
Geographic blocking is ineffective: Attackers use global infrastructure, making location-based blocking futile

Practical Security Recommendations

Based on what I observed, here are actionable security practices:

Never use default credentials on any service
Implement strong password policies with multi-factor authentication
Disable unnecessary services and close unused ports
Monitor logs for unusual authentication patterns
Keep all systems patched and updated

Conclusion

Building a honeypot system provided invaluable hands-on experience in understanding real-world cyber threats. It reinforced the importance of proactive security measures and demonstrated that threat actors are constantly scanning for vulnerable systems. The project not only deepened my technical skills but also shaped my approach to defensive cybersecurity strategies.