Deutsche Telekom, Intel Partner to Develop IoT Honey Pots

German telecom giant Deutsche Telekom has teamed up with Intel Security on a joint research project to develop and deploy honey pots that can be embedded in any device, including smartphones and other connected (IoT) devices.

Deutsche Telekom’s honeypot project was started in 2010, and currently runs about 180 honeypot sensors as part of its early warning system, which identifies upwards of 600,000 attacks per day.

“Our aim is to develop the honey pot technology into a cyber-security sensor, that can be integrated into every connected device,” said Thomas Tschersich, Director IT- and physical security at Deutsche Telekom.

Both companies will jointly research how honey pots can be developed further and be integrated in every compute device, with the goal of being converted into a product available for customers.

The development of new sensors, which will leverage Intel’s hardware and security technologies, could help customers be alerted faster and enable them to be better prepared for a cyberattack, Deutsche Telekom said.

“The more threat intelligence we can gather without real organizations having to sustain cyber-attacks, the greater our collective ability to learn, anticipate and take action when real organizations must confront such attacks,” said Vincent Weafer, senior vice president, Intel Security’s McAfee Labs. “This honey pot project is unique in that it leverages the global network presence of Deutsche Telekom and the global threat intelligence and research expertise of Intel Security, raising the bar on size and scope for such operations.“

Under the alliance, the network will be expanded by adding new sensors, which will “attract criminals looking for open ports or systems that do not have the latest security software.”

For those interested in deploying their own honey pot, Deutsche Telekom’s Community Honey Pot Project offers a number of different honey pot options, along with resources, including ISO Images for Ubuntu, Scripts, and documentation.  

Intel Security did not immediately respond to a SecurityWeek inquiry on which of its hardware and security technologies would be used as part of the project.