Honeypots mailing list archives

Re: Moving forward with defintion of honeypots


From: Bill McCarty <bmccarty () apu edu>
Date: Fri, 23 May 2003 21:47:46 -0700

Hi all,

   "A honeypot is an information system resource who's
    value lies in unauthorized or illicit use of that
    resource"

Okay, I'll definitely go anal here: This definition seems to imply that a honeypot has no value unless it's actually used without authorization or illicitly. I suggest that it's the *potential* for misuse -- and the data provided by actual misuse -- that make a honeypot valuable.

Moreover, from my perspective as an information systems researcher, the term "information system" refers to a particular type of system: one designed to provide information to organizational decision makers. To avoid this misappropriation <g> of the term, I suggest deleting the word "system."

So, even though it's rather wordy, I prefer the following:

"A honeypot is an information resource, the value of which lies in its potential for unauthorized or illicit use and the data provided by such misuse."

Cheers,

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Bill McCarty


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