'Honey Pot’: This tracker will nail a hacker

Elinor Abreu

LAS VEGAS: A group of security experts speaking at a conference here

disclosed plans this week for a an expanded network of computer systems known as

a "honey pot" to track malicious hacker activities around the world. A

honey pot, a computer designed to deceive computer intruders, collects

information and monitors activity when it is breached but does not allow an

intruder to get to any sensitive data or do any damage.

The goal of the volunteer-run Honeynet Project is to gather information on

security breaches, which corporations and governments that have been attacked by

hackers are often reluctant to disclose.

The project that has been running on a limited basis will be expanded to run

on a large number of computer systems around the world. These would include the

US Navy network, said Lance Spitzner, a senior security architect for Sun

Microsystems Inc. one of about 30 volunteers running the project.

"Gathering intelligence on the enemy is critical," Spitzner said.

"We want to learn the tools, tactics and motives" of malicious

hackers. The Honeynet Project, which includes volunteers from Israel, Canada,

Holland and Australia, also monitors Internet relay chat sessions for malicious

hackers that may brag about their exploits. The group forwards to federal

agencies for investigation when it is warranted, Spitzner said.

Using statistical analysis, Honeynet can even predict when an attack is

likely to happen, according to the volunteers of the group. "We can predict

up to three days when you're going to be attacked and how you're going to be

attacked," Spitzner said. "One of our computers got hacked in 15

minutes. If they're attacking a system in 15 minutes that has no value, what are

they doing to a system that has value?"

Las Vegas hosted two major computer security conferences this week: Black

Hat, which is geared more toward security professionals, and DefCon tends to

attract a younger audience and features sessions on how to find and take

advantage of security breaches. Black Hat is a term for malicious hackers as

opposed to white hat hackers, a term for hackers who work to protect networks.

(C) Reuters Limited 2001.