GPTHoney – A New Linux Honeypot for Real-Time Engagement with Threat Actors

11.10.2024

A honeypot is a crucial cybersecurity mechanism designed to attract and divert threat actors away from legitimate targets by simulating valuable assets such as servers or applications. By creating an environment that mimics real systems, honeypots serve two purposes: protecting actual systems from harm and enabling organizations to observe and analyze the techniques used by attackers. This insight helps cybersecurity teams improve their defenses and develop strategies to counter future threats.

Christopher Schroeder, an intern at the SANS Institute as part of the SANS.edu BACS program, recently introduced a groundbreaking new Linux honeypot called “GPTHoney.” Unlike traditional honeypots, GPTHoney engages in real-time with threat actors, using large language models (LLMs) to create a more dynamic and convincing environment. This real-time interaction enhances its ability to capture more sophisticated tactics from attackers, allowing organizations to observe more in-depth behaviors and adapt to emerging threats.

GPTHoney stands out for its ability to provide individual, self-contained shells for each IP address that connects to it, unlike typical honeypots that may only simulate a shared environment. This feature allows for the separate logging of each attacker’s commands, ensuring that sessions remain persistent and that attackers’ activities are carefully monitored. The system handles SSH connections on port 22, recording all commands input by attackers, which helps create a rich, detailed history of their behavior, vital for long-term analysis.

In addition to its advanced session tracking, GPTHoney’s architecture incorporates three types of plugins: those for direct API communication, pre-API command processing, and post-API response modification. This modular design enables GPTHoney to simulate environments that feel authentic to attackers, particularly in sectors such as finance, healthcare, and technology. Using a sophisticated configuration file called “prompt.yml,” the system can simulate realistic corporate environments, complete with file systems, user management, and command execution rules, adding to its credibility as a security tool.

GPTHoney’s logging system is another standout feature, offering comprehensive session management that logs attacker behavior in real-time. This includes command histories, timestamps, session IDs, and even execution states. The use of JSON-formatted logs allows for easy storage and retrieval of session data, ensuring that the system can restore previous session states if an attacker reconnects. Combined with support for advanced features like simulated privilege escalation, GPTHoney not only helps in engaging attackers but also provides valuable insights for security monitoring and system administration.