The Honeynet Project is an international cybersecurity research organization that investigates the latest cyber attacks and develops open source tools to improve Internet security by tracking hackers' behavioral patterns.^[2]

History

The Honeynet Project began in 1999 as a small mailing list of a group of people.^[3][4] The group expanded and officially dubbed itself as The Honeynet Project in June 2000.^[3]

The project includes dozens of active chapters around the world, including Brazil, Indonesia, Greece, India, Mexico, Iran, Australia, Ireland, and many in the United States.^[5]

Project goals

The Honeynet Project has 3 main aims:^[6]

• Raise awareness of the existing threats on the Internet.
• Conduct research covering data analysis approaches unique security tool development, and gathering data about attackers and malicious software they use.
• Provide the tools^[7] and techniques used by The Honeynet Project so that other organizations can benefit.

Research and development

The Honeynet Project volunteers collaborate on security research efforts covering data analysis approaches, security tools development, and gathering data about hackers and malicious software. The Project research provides sensitive information regarding attackers, this includes this motives, communication methods, attack timelines and their actions following a system attack. This information is provided through Know Your Enemy white-papers, The Project blog posts, and Scan of the Month Forensic challenges.^[6]

The project uses unmodified computers with the same specifications, operating systems and security as those used by many companies.^[8] These computer production systems are added online and the network of volunteers scan the network for attacks or suspicious activity.^[3] The finds are published on the company site for public viewing and knowledge.^[8]