Deception Technology: Meaning, Forms and Advantages

"A fundamental problem with traditional detection technologies is that they are designed to stop once they have detected an attack. Unfortunately, when you only block an attack, you don’t get the opportunity to study it.” 

- Carolyn Crandall

 

The fight for cybersecurity in the twenty-first century now heavily relies on deception as technologies and cyber threats develop. Cybercriminals have been fast to employ deception as a primary method of infiltration into networks and systems, as well as for remaining undetected once inside, from CEO fraud to complex spear phishing campaigns to bank transfer scams.

 

But the situation can also be reversed. In order to confuse and deceive attackers, security providers and startups employ deception methods. 

 

When an attacker invests time and effort in breaking into a decoy server, the defense not only defends valuable assets but also gains knowledge about the attacker's goals, resources, strategies, and procedures.

 

Deception techniques and technologies operate on this fundamental tenet. In this blog you will learn more about Deception Technology.

 

What is Deception Technology?

 

Building security defenses that detect threats early with little performance impact on the network and few false positives is possible with the help of deception technology, which is a straightforward but effective technique. 

 

The technology works by deploying decoys in your network alongside real assets, such as domains, databases, applications, servers, cookies, files, credentials, and sessions. Decoys are realistic-looking but fake assets. 

 

There is no way to tell the difference between the false and the real for an attacker who has broken into the network. As soon as they come in contact with a decoy, a silent alarm goes off and the systems begin to gather data on the attacker's actions and motivation.

 

Also Read | What is Targeted Ransomware?

 

 

Deception Technology Tools

 

Some Deception Technology Tools are given below.

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Deception Technology Tools

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1. Attivo

 

The Endpoint Detection Net (EDN) suite from SentinelOne, which bought Attivo Networks, provides deception and concealment technology. It covers data concealment, attack deflection, and solutions for credential and AD security that are intended to stop lateral movement and privilege escalation. 

 

To defend against identity-based attacks aimed at Active Directory, its AD protection function conceals and spreads false information. It recognises unlawful searches that are made in an effort to mine AD for data, hides confidential or privileged AD query results, and inserts phoney results that refer to bogus systems.

 

In order to safeguard credential stores on endpoints, deception for identity protection offers credential protection features that add concealment, bind them to the apps that own them, and prevent access to any other process.

 

In order to stop attackers from identifying and targeting specific local files, mapped network or cloud shares, local privileged accounts, folders, and removable storage, the EDN concealment function hides and blocks access to them.

 

The EDN deflection mechanism reroutes both incoming and outbound efforts to undertake port and service discovery operations by diverting the connections to decoys systems for engagement. 

 

This deception obviates the need for precise system identification and fingerprinting, generates an early warning of the reconnaissance activity, and diverts the connection attempt away from production assets.

 

2. Illusive

 

Agentless deceptions used by Illusive Network's deception solution, Illusive Shadow, force attackers to announce their existence and halt lateral mobility, rendering the environment inhospitable for attackers. Cloud, on-premises, or hybrid cloud deployment options are available. Scams imitate cloud assets and shield cloud-based systems.

 

The deceptions that illusive plants imitate the true information, credentials, and connections that the attacker need. The attacker is overwhelmed by the circumstances when faced with a warped perception of reality; it is impossible to proceed normally without launching a deceit. One bad movement sets off an alert, which is unknown to the attacker.

 

A unified control console allows incident responders to view the attacker's proximity to corporate assets. With real-time source forensics in hand, they can make educated decisions to stop the attack and prevent a detrimental effect on their business.

 

3. Acalvio

 

The ShadowPlex programme from Acalvio and its Deception Farm architecture centralize the deception process. When projected over the company network, decoys like phony hosts or honeypots appear as authentic local assets because they are housed in a single location, either on-premises or in the cloud.

 

ShadowPlex can give scale and depth of decoy realism thanks to the resource-saving technique known as Fluid Deception.The configuration and deployment of deception objects are automated and made easier.

 

The system uses an AI-based recommendation engine and pre-defined playbooks to self-generate and put the right deception objects in the environment.

 

Instead of being maintained by various servers spread out across the network, all the decoys are in one location. For each component of the network, deception objects are automatically customized. To stay current and applicable when network parameters change, decoys, breadcrumbs, and baits are autonomously updated.

 

Decoys imitate both hosts that run OS systems and hosts for the Internet of Things (IoT). Acalvio uses phony artifacts like shared discs, registry entries, credentials, and many other things as baits, breadcrumbs, and endpoint lures that can either operate as tripwires on their own or guide an attacker to the decoys.

 

The system allows field-expandable object types and variations and automates their creation and deployment so they blend in with their environment.

 

4. CyberTrap

 

CyberTrap Enterprise is intended for major corporations and governmental organizations that are frequently the subject of targeted hacking assaults. The delivery of IOCs (occurrences of compromise), which are always based on known incidents, does not occur with the integration into a SIEM, but rather proof of compromise.

 

In the framework of MITRE ATT&CK, CyberTrap provides real-time, tailored threat intelligence data. The solution aids the SOC team's analysis of crucial events and concentration on crucial warnings.

 

The Express version is a cloud-based deception-as-a-service model that is immediately accessible. It is designed for managed service providers who have a large customer base and want to add deception technology to their service offerings.

 

A Pro version is designed for small and medium-sized businesses that need speedy intrusion detection but lack the resources to operate a full deception solution. If any unusual behavior is seen, the solution quietly monitors it and reports it right away. 

 

There are cloud, on-premises, and hybrid alternatives. The rest of the infrastructure is secure even if certain individual network devices are compromised.

 

5. Fidelis

 

Fidelis Deception, which was created through the acquisition of Topspin Security, a pioneer in the deception field, shortens the perception of the attack surface to assist reduce cyber dwell time. An adversary's ability to sneakily shift laterally is hampered by this. 

 

By using a proactive strategy to cyber protection, you can give yourself more time to identify dangers, stop attacks, and stop future incursions while also making it tougher for attackers to complete their mission.

 

With the help of adaptive terrain analysis, intelligent deception technology, and complete IT visibility, Fidelis Deception offers complete situational awareness, changing the rules of engagement by redefining the assault surface.

 

Cyberattackers, malicious insiders, and malware are drawn to the deception layer via interactive decoys and breadcrumbs on actual assets and in Active Directory (AD), where they are caught before they disrupt business operations or steal data. The solution is able to recognise lateral movement.

 

Fidelis Deception can find intruders sniffing traffic and compromising Active Directory (man-in-the-middle). The remedy may reveal the use of credentials that were stolen. Even with encrypted files, it may detect ransomware symptoms.

 

Also Read | What is Cybersecurity Mesh?

 

Use Cases of Deception Technology

 

Through the entire chain, from reconnaissance up to data theft, deception is utilized to identify risks. We primarily observe three different use cases of deception technology.

 

1. Perimeter Deception Defense

 

When all IPv4 addresses can be scanned in less than an hour, monitoring all inbound connections—even the strange ones—becomes like drinking from a fire hose. 

 

Since VMs can be made available in the cloud in a matter of minutes, the noise is generated by nearly anybody who can set up a cloud account and run a few scripts, not just by shady users of a page or by enemies pursuing the organization. Security is more of an issue with good data than big data.

 

If done correctly, setting up false public-facing assets can greatly simplify this issue and provide you with useful telemetry on your targets. This is different from just putting together a standard honeypot on a public IP with a bunch of open ports. 

 

Such an arrangement will produce clamorous alerts from Shodan and Google to scripts for college research projects attempting to connect to these honeypots. 

 

As an alternative, using decoys that resemble beta/staging applications can generate warnings with a high degree of certainty informing you that an attacker is attempting to access a particular piece of infrastructure with a public face but without prior notice. 

 

The alerts produced become a high-confidence indicator of intent to locate sensitive infrastructure belonging to the organisation, regardless of the motivation behind it or the methodology that is used to find it, including scripts set up to do so.

 

These notifications serve as practical pivot points to look for additional activity in the important but huge logs from the WAF (Web Application Firewall) and other sources. 

 

For instance, the source may be investigated for prior attempts to access decoys with a public face and, if necessary, restricted. Common methods for containment are to reset the user's credentials and then enable 2FA (Two Factor Authentication) for the account if successful login attempts are identified.

 

2. Network Deception Defense

 

Aside from the onboarding process, attackers are like new hires on day one once they establish a foothold within a company, barring insider threats. They have a very brief idea of the goal that they need to accomplish but no knowledge of the specific locations of the things that they need or how to get there.

 

Here, a carefully placed collection of internal decoy servers and workstations can be useful since they make themselves available to the attacker as targets. The chances of them being targeted are, however, not much better than random chance if decoys are only used. 

 

When users realize they have connected to a different host than the one they wanted to connect to, even forgetful ones who make a few mistakes while searching for the desired host are unlikely to keep doing so.

 

On the other hand, an attacker has useful information to gather by making connections to a different system than the one that they are trying to target. 

 

As a result, attacker interactions with decoys behave differently from those of a typical user, making it simple to distinguish between the two. Such alarms are then excellent places to start inquiries from, just like with other deception methods.

 

3. Endpoint Deception Defense

 

Take into account how you employ your computer's file system. You most likely already know which file you need and where to find it. People who work with a lot of local files can search the file system using keywords they are aware are related to or contained in the file they are looking for.

 

However, if a decoy file is installed on your machine, it is unlikely to interfere with any actions you must carry out, especially if you are aware that it is a decoy. However, a file that an attacker perceives to have valuable content and to be accessed by the user is a potential target for exfiltration.

 

Endpoint deception can be used to detect behavior that would be suspicious on the network as well as behavior that would be normal on the network but has no real place on a particular endpoint at a particular time when combined with breadcrumbs, fake processes, and decoy workstations/servers impersonating legitimate systems accessed by the user.

 

Even a hostile insider who is knowledgeable about gaps in the current defenses doesn't have complete access to all the valuable files on other endpoints. Theft of decoy files also becomes a particularly high priority signal since the purpose of many attacks is data theft because it shows the attacker may be near to achieving their objective.

 

Also Read | Everything About Cybersecurity Threats

 

Its continued indistinguishability and freshness to the attacker are two of the most crucial conditions for successful deception technology implementation. The attacker will take every precaution to avoid traps and increase their efforts to reach your genuine assets if they believe they are being duped.

 

AI and machine learning are commonly included into the core of deception security solutions. These characteristics not only serve to keep deception approaches current but also lessen operating expenses and the burden on security teams by relieving them of having to constantly come up with new deception campaigns.