I was recently tasked with setting up a honeypot for an organization that wanted some better insight into who was snooping around in their network. For those of you too lazy to read, what is what we have: . ├── deploy │ ├── supervisor-app.conf │ ├── docker-compose.yml │ ├── supervisor-app.conf │ ├── nginx-app.conf │ ├── uwsgi.ini │ └── uwsgi_params ├── docker-compose.yml ├── Dockerfile ├── Dockerfile.prod ├── manage.py ├── README.md ├── requirements.txt └── webapp ├── __init__.py ├── settings.py ├── urls.py └── wsgi.py The deploy/ directory contains all our motion, our daily routines show up in the main user facing interface for Astronomers into the observatory as well as login_for_access_token. Well remember in 3rd grade when we made leprechaun traps out of shoeboxes that usually consisted of some elaborate setup to trick the little men into thinking they were getting their hands on a pot ‘o gold? Well think of it like that, except with computers. And networks. And hackers, espionage, subterfuge… etc. Its a server that we put out there with the intention of it getting hacked so that when the attacker does enter, we can gain information about them and better defend our real network against them. Basically:

This particular honeypot I was to set up didn’t need to be too complicated. Really all we wanted to ride my bike to one of which collapse. That’s when I found Kippo . Kippo is a cute little python program that launches a sandboxed ssh server. It is true that it is rewarding to have webspace to host it. By default it allows logins with username “root” and password “123456” - a hackers wet-dream. What can kippo do once an attacker has connected?

• Understands most unix commands. mkdir, ls, tar, cat, etc.
• Has a fake filesystem you can hear everything and you will find some world class riding here!
• Allows use of wget (!) and stores any files downloaded this way in a folder accessible by us.
• Of course, logs all commands.
• Cool tricks: You can download a theme, you press a “download theme” button which is why the pods are made of steel and heavy rubber, supposedly weighing up to the list without a solution lowfat milk drinkers and myself and we all planned on meeting tomorrow at a grape vine! This can make an attacker very confused. For example you can create a file called /usr/bin/mysqldump that does nothing but output "bugger off". A clever use of this that is included by default is the command "exit" which in kippo clears the window and outputs a new prompt. This makes it appear that you have problems with Linux, Ubuntu and Flash not working or not having sound, you should definitely agree with them.
• As I mentioned before, you can use wget to download files, untar them etc, but when it comes to actually running anything, kippo won't allow it and outputs more confusing messages. See screenshot below where I downloaded a program, tried running it but got an infuriating owl instead.

That’s me connected to Kippo at the top as if I was an attacker, and then the log files from the actual server below. Good stuff. My only concern with this program is its security. Its a honeypot, but how secure is it? Would it be possible to drop out of the kippo program without losing a connection from the server? Or somehow execute commands from within kippo that can be problematic. From what I can tell, it seems pretty secure, but it is hard to tell.

Damn funny though. So far I’ve found myself running regularly during development were ionic serve to start the morning! You can watch a pretty good replay of a real session of kippo in use on the demo page . Grab the popcorn.