Internet honeypots: protection or entrapment?

Abstract

A honeypot is a decoy computer system designed to look like a legitimate system an intruder will want to break into while, unbeknownst to the intruder, they are being covertly observed. Honeypots are effective precisely because attackers do not know if they are there and where they will be. However, honeypots are also a controversial technique; they essentially bait and capture intruders skirting the fine line between keeping attackers out of a network versus inviting them in. Little legal precedent has been established. Some see them as unfair entrapment tools while others see them as an effective data gathering and deterrence mechanism. This paper attempts to flush out the issues on both sides of a technique that may become ubiquitous in the future.