A honeypot is a cybersecurity mechanism designed to divert attackers away from legitimate targets by simulating valuable assets, such as a server or application. This setup not only lures threat actors but also allows organizations to monitor and analyze the tactics and techniques used by these adversaries, providing valuable insights into their behavior.
Recently, Christopher Schroeder, an intern at ISC as part of the SANS.edu BACS program, uncovered a new Linux honeypot named *GPTHoney*. This honeypot is specifically designed to engage with threat actors in real-time, enhancing the ability to study and understand cyberattack methods as they unfold.
Technical Analysis
*GPTHoney* represents a significant advancement in honeypot technology by leveraging large language models (LLMs) in a more sophisticated and professional manner. This innovative approach creates an intelligent cybersecurity research environment that mimics a Linux-based operating system, capable of handling SSH connections on port 22 as the attacker’s input.
Individual Shells: Unlike traditional honeypots, *GPTHoney* provides individual, isolated shells for each IP address that connects to it. This approach not only improves the authenticity of the simulation but also includes detailed command history logs, enabling session persistence for a more in-depth analysis of attacker behavior.
Three Plugin Types: The architecture includes three distinct plugin types to enhance its functionality:
Type 1: For direct API communication.
Type 2: For pre-API command processing.
Type 3: For post-API response modification.
This modular approach allows *GPTHoney* to modify and manage interactions with threat actors in real-time, making it a versatile tool for cybersecurity research.
Smart Environment Simulation: *GPTHoney* is highly effective at constructing realistic corporate environments, tailored to sectors such as financial services, healthcare, or technology. This realism is designed to keep attackers engaged for longer periods, increasing the opportunity to gather valuable data.
Integration with AI Models: The system seamlessly integrates with the latest models from OpenAI and Anthropic. Through a *handle_cmd* function, it processes commands to manage logging, plugin interactions, and response delivery, ensuring that the responses are both dynamic and credible.
Authenticity Enhancements: To create a more believable environment while monitoring attacker activities, *GPTHoney* features delayed ping responses (ranging from 0.3 to 1.8 seconds) and customizable SSH banners. These features help to maintain a realistic simulation while collecting comprehensive logs of attacker behavior in a controlled setting.
This cutting-edge honeypot technology is designed to maintain attacker interest and interaction for extended periods, offering deep insights into their strategies and tactics. By doing so, *GPTHoney* is setting new standards for cybersecurity research environments.
Here are the key features of *GPTHoney* that make it a standout in honeypot technology:
- Ultra-lightweight: The system is extremely compact, with a size of less than 20KB.
- AI-generated responses: Provides dynamic, AI-generated responses to user commands.
- Real-time, dynamic environments: Creates individualized environments for each attacker in real-time.
- Custom command handling: Supports custom command handling through a flexible plugin architecture.
- Detailed logging: Tracks all user interactions with comprehensive logging features.
OS changes via plain English prompts: Allows users to modify the operating system environment using straightforward language commands.
Advanced Logging and Memory Management
In *GPTHoney’s* architecture, the command history log functions as a critical memory management system. Through a sophisticated logging mechanism, it meticulously tracks and stores every user interaction. When users connect to the system via unique IP addresses, it automatically generates text files named in the format *commands_<IP>.txt*, recording all device commands and LLM-generated responses.
For each user session, *GPTHoney* creates isolated environments, preserving command histories, environment configurations, and execution states to ensure session persistence. If a user reconnects, the system reloads the previous session’s state using JSON-formatted logs. These logs contain essential metadata, including:
Timestamps (recorded in the Zulu time zone)
Session IDs
Action types (e.g., “command_execution”)
Detailed command outputs
This comprehensive logging setup enhances session management, facilitating debugging processes and supporting advanced features.
Key Functionalities for Security and Administration
Simulated privilege escalation: Supports simulated *sudo* commands for advanced user permissions.
Security monitoring: Ideal for monitoring attacker behavior with detailed command tracking.
System administration: Valuable for system administration tasks with the ability to track long-term interactions.
The system’s ability to maintain distinct, isolated environments for each IP address ensures accurate interaction tracking. It reliably preserves the exact state of user sessions, directory structures, and environment variables between connections, making it a powerful tool for both security monitoring and research.
