HoneyNet Looks to Stick Hackers

[Tyler Durden]

Anyone know what kind of encryption is being discussed below? (ie, that 
hackers use to communicate with each other)

-TD



HoneyNet Looks to Stick Hackers

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Online vandals and stalkers beware. A group of security professionals called 
The HoneyNet Project, has just made it easier for law enforcement to 
stealthily track the behavior of online evil-doers.

On Monday, the volunteer group, which consists of two dozen computer 
security, information intelligence, and psychology professionals, released 
the second version of its how-to-build-a-honeynet software, a tool used by 
law enforcement and others interested in security issues to track the 
behavior of hackers.

For those folks not down with security lingo, a honeynet expands on the 
concept of a honeypot, a software application that pretends to be a server 
on the Internet and lures unsuspecting hackers to it. A honeynet is a 
collection of these honeypots networked together. When hackers (or 
blackhats, as theyre known in security circles) enter the honeynet, they 
are watched closely by a combination of surveillance technologies.

Youre really playing with fire in this type of environment, says Lance 
Spitzner, a security architect at Sun Microsystems Inc. (Nasdaq: SUNW - 
message board) and founder of the four-year old HoneyNet Project. The whole 
point is to observe the bad guys as they go about their work in a controlled 
setting without them knowing it.

The way it works is an intrusion-detection system triggers a virtual alarm 
whenever an attacker breaches security on one of the networked computers. 
Meanwhile, an administrator watches everything the intruder types, from 
commands to emails to chat sessions. A separate firewall is set up to cut 
the hacker off from the Internet anytime he tries to attack another system 
from the honeynet.

Proponents say the latest HoneyNet release includes the following 
improvements over previous versions:


The software is prepackaged for easy setup and comes for installation on a 
single server.


A new utility called Honey Inspector, which will be released soon, will 
allow honeypots within the honeynet to be managed and analyzed through a 
graphical user interface. Eventually, the HoneyNet Project expects to 
release a bootable CD-ROM that will make installing its version of a 
honeynet even easier.


Software includes improvements for breaking encryption codes that hackers 
often use to communicate with each other.


The designers claim to have made it harder for hackers to detect that 
theyve been lured into a honeynet. In the previous version of software, all 
the surveillance was done at Layer 3. Hackers had to pass through a Layer 3 
gateway when entering the honeynet, which often tipped them off to what was 
happening. But now HoneyNet uses a Layer 2 bridging gateway, making any 
surveillance invisible to the hacker.


The upgrade includes an enhanced firewall that blocks harmful attacks, while 
still allowing hackers to communicate with their associates outside the 
honeynet. The longer we can keep them in the honeynet without them 
realizing what is going on, the more information we can gather, says 
Spitzner. We want them talking to their buddies on the Internet, but we 
dont want them causing anymore harm.

So are the Honeynet Project volunteers some sort of cyber police force? Not 
at all. The not-for-profit groups only purpose is to observe and learn 
about hacker behavior and share that information with the public. Thats not 
to say that the information and tools gathered cant be used to catch bad 
guys. Government agencies like the United States Department of Homeland 
Security and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) already use HoneyNet 
Project information and techniques in their work.

The HoneyNet Project is not designed for commercial use, according to 
Spitzner. He says it wouldnt make much sense for an enterprise to spend the 
resources to build such a network. But network security might use the tools 
to learn more about hackers and recommend strategies to clients.

All software on the HoneyNet Project Website is free to download by anyone. 
For more information, go to The HoneyNet Project.

 Marguerite Reardon, Senior Editor, Light Reading






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