Photo by Carla Quario on Unsplash Responding to cybersecurity threats means a company must be five steps ahead of the hackers. Clone traps, a vanguard in deception technology, automate threat response by deceiving the deceivers and fighting AI with AI. By the end of 2024, there were 240,830 live cybersecurity vulnerabilities and exposures(CVE): These are only the publicly disclosed vulnerabilities, and there may be many more. In the first half of 2024 new common CVEs identification represented a 30% increase, potentially leaving doors wide open for cybercriminal exploitation. The advent of AI technologies is only adding to this list, with cybercriminals using Generative AI to empower their attack chains. As a result of security gaps and advanced attacks, a staggering 95% of bot attacks go undetected. There is also a 19% increase in manual/human attacks; manual attacks are often complicated and multi-part, making detection challenging. Organizations around the world stand at a precipice. Dealing with this unparalleled complex cyber-attack level has led to an intelligence gap. As such, the tsunami of zero-day and complex exploits requires a sophisticated approach. Here, we look at how a vanguard in AI-powered deception technology, clone traps, will help firms of all sizes persistently protect and strengthen their systems and reduce the risk of a successful cyber-attack. Clone traps, fighting AI with AI A new security kid is on the block: Clone traps are next-gen honeypots that are about to turn the table on cybercriminals. This is less a new type of honeypot, and more a quantum leap in deception technology to catch even the most persistent and evasive attackers. Clone traps are deeply integrated with a firewall and provide AI-driven intelligence to super-target protection, fighting AI with AI. Clone traps also provide crucial data to the entire cybersecurity system and enhance a customer’s cyber resilience. One of the most powerful features of a clone trap is the dynamic and real time use of data. This dynamism allows firewall data to be put to immediate use, the clone trap’s AI engine learning from firewall data to identify an attack instantly, and protect the firewall – stopping an attack before it becomes an incident. Future clone trap developments include AI-driven "modelling,” used to generate attacks to identify weaknesses in firewalls and to train defensive AI. Unification of data, AI, and firewall integration – the secret sauce of clone traps The continuous innovation in cyberattack methods requires a similar innovative approach to detection and prevention. The central pivot upon which the digital world turns is data. Therefore, the next generation of deception technologies must be able to optimize the use of data. This is precisely what clone traps do. Clone traps are part of a broad cybersecurity ecosystem: the traps, firewalls, data, and the cybersecurity/ SOC (Security Operational Center) team. This ecosystem approach provides exceptional results, rates of detection improved by up to ten times the market average. Clone traps serve as the entry gates for valuable data, creating up-to-date feeds of malicious attack sources, strange URL patterns, abnormal frequency request signatures, client geo triggers, and behavioural changes in a system. All this information is delivered to the core cybersecurity platform, which matches the data from honeypots with the usual requests and intelligence from over 100 sources: open source data, proprietary sources such as known attacker databases, and even the darknet, which can provide vital attack intelligence. With all this data collated, the core system is able to decide what constitutes an attack and what does not, and packages these decisions into a threat feed for firewalls. Data from hundreds, even thousands of traps is used to form a complex mesh of intelligent insights that are used to identify emerging threats, zero-days, and complex multi-part attacks. The integration of clone traps with a firewall is designed to provide an automated response to all types of threats by leveraging the power of AI and real-time data. Data unification is core to the clone trap's success in attack detection. However, the security team is another essential part of the success mix. Once the decoy is set using the most enticing data and the system hardened, the security team can wait for the attack to begin. Once detected, the cybersecurity platform shares the data with the firewall and the rest of the company's infrastructure, and the firewall automatically blocks the hacker. Your internal security team or SOC uses these alerts to respond to the attack, closing down the pathways that can lead to ransomware infection, data breaches, and other cybersecurity events. Meanwhile, the trap lets the hacker in, revealing all its depths so that you can study his behavior. Ongoing threat intelligence generated by clone traps provides the data needed to create a robust cyber security strategy and to update and adapt the policies based on clone trap feedback. Clone traps take the decoy technique to new levels of response, handling the aftermath of the attack through auto-remediation and auto-healing. Using automation, detection and resolution of cyber threats require no direct human intervention, which removes human error and reduces the time to threat resolution. Also, the intelligence generated by clone traps provides the documentation auditors need to demonstrate that a company is using robust security measures. What if the clone trap is successfully revealed? No one should be able to figure out the trap; however, clone traps must be discoverable, as an undetectable honeypot may lead to hackers finding out that it's a trap. On the contrary, they invite the hacker in. Of course, clone traps have to be close to reality and sufficiently complex, so that the whole concept works by providing information about the hacker's techniques, rather than just distracting them. In a scenario where a hacker has managed to penetrate the clone system, the internal security team or SOC will receive an alert. The report provides complete details on the attack, providing the team with insights into the attack method to allow reverse engineering of the attack. The intelligence gathered will be used to further harden the system against future attacks. The clone trap itself, after being hacked, may either remain unchanged - waiting for the next "victim" - or be protected by a firewall if desired. A question that may come to mind is, “What if a legitimate user, like an employee, falls for a clone trap?” Employees and legitimate users are almost unable to interact with a clone trap. In other words, even though clone traps camouflage themselves as standard services, their unique positioning means that usual clients will rarely stumble upon them without prior knowledge. Hackers, however, are likely to encounter them while searching for vulnerabilities. Clone traps and false positives False positive alerts are a serious problem for the security team. False positives don’t just waste time, but block regular users and create false alert fatigue, which can cause real attack signals to be missed. The following impact can also result in lowered employee morale. Clone traps prevent false positive alerts as legitimate users cannot normally navigate to the cloned instance – the net result is that the intelligence derived from the clone trap is from genuine attackers engaging the clone traps; this data is therefore rich with threat actor IoCs (Indicators of Compromise). As a result, by combining clone trap intelligence with known threat data sources, false positives are effectively eliminated. How AI-powered security bolsters human security professionals Clone traps provide the security team with a powerful tool to automate the detection and resolution of cyber threats. They, however, are augmented by a security professional. Administrators of clone traps provide configuration guidance, and each time a clone trap generates an incident report, they interpret the results, log into systems, set stricter policies, use different configuration approaches, and ensure that config scripts reflect the current challenges. The automated response to cyber threats by clone traps allows security teams to use their industry knowledge to work on strategic system protection. Empowering detection and response using clone traps Clone traps are a result of ongoing research and development. Cybersecurity scientists use their deep knowledge of the threat surface to mimic hackers and understand their deviant tactics. This threat intelligence has allowed researchers to create clone traps perfectly designed to entrap their hacker prey and extract their tactics. By using a mix of AI and human experience, clone traps can stop the most persistent and complex cyber-attacks and stay five steps ahead of cybercriminals. Photo by Carla Quario on Unsplash Carla Quario Unsplash Responding to cybersecurity threats means a company must be five steps ahead of the hackers. Clone traps, a vanguard in deception technology, automate threat response by deceiving the deceivers and fighting AI with AI. Responding to cybersecurity threats means a company must be five steps ahead of the hackers. Clone traps, a vanguard in deception technology, automate threat response by deceiving the deceivers and fighting AI with AI. Responding to cybersecurity threats means a company must be five steps ahead of the hackers. Clone traps, a vanguard in deception technology, automate threat response by deceiving the deceivers and fighting AI with AI. By the end of 2024, there were 240,830 live cybersecurity vulnerabilities and exposures (CVE): These are only the publicly disclosed vulnerabilities, and there may be many more. In the first half of 2024 new common CVEs identification represented a 30% increase , potentially leaving doors wide open for cybercriminal exploitation. The advent of AI technologies is only adding to this list, with cybercriminals using Generative AI to empower their attack chains. As a result of security gaps and advanced attacks, a staggering 95% of bot attacks go undetected. There is also a 19% increase in manual/human attacks; manual attacks are often complicated and multi-part, making detection challenging. 240,830 live cybersecurity vulnerabilities and exposures 240,830 live cybersecurity vulnerabilities and exposures represented a 30% increase represented a 30% increase 95% of bot attacks 95% of bot attacks 19% increase in manual/human 19% increase in manual/human Organizations around the world stand at a precipice. Dealing with this unparalleled complex cyber-attack level has led to an intelligence gap. As such, the tsunami of zero-day and complex exploits requires a sophisticated approach. Here, we look at how a vanguard in AI-powered deception technology, clone traps, will help firms of all sizes persistently protect and strengthen their systems and reduce the risk of a successful cyber-attack. Clone traps, fighting AI with AI A new security kid is on the block: Clone traps are next-gen honeypots that are about to turn the table on cybercriminals. This is less a new type of honeypot, and more a quantum leap in deception technology to catch even the most persistent and evasive attackers. Clone traps are deeply integrated with a firewall and provide AI-driven intelligence to super-target protection, fighting AI with AI. Clone traps also provide crucial data to the entire cybersecurity system and enhance a customer’s cyber resilience. One of the most powerful features of a clone trap is the dynamic and real time use of data. This dynamism allows firewall data to be put to immediate use, the clone trap’s AI engine learning from firewall data to identify an attack instantly, and protect the firewall – stopping an attack before it becomes an incident. Future clone trap developments include AI-driven "modelling,” used to generate attacks to identify weaknesses in firewalls and to train defensive AI. Unification of data, AI, and firewall integration – the secret sauce of clone traps The continuous innovation in cyberattack methods requires a similar innovative approach to detection and prevention. The central pivot upon which the digital world turns is data. Therefore, the next generation of deception technologies must be able to optimize the use of data. This is precisely what clone traps do. Clone traps are part of a broad cybersecurity ecosystem: the traps, firewalls, data, and the cybersecurity/ SOC (Security Operational Center) team. This ecosystem approach provides exceptional results, rates of detection improved by up to ten times the market average. Clone traps serve as the entry gates for valuable data, creating up-to-date feeds of malicious attack sources, strange URL patterns, abnormal frequency request signatures, client geo triggers, and behavioural changes in a system. All this information is delivered to the core cybersecurity platform, which matches the data from honeypots with the usual requests and intelligence from over 100 sources: open source data, proprietary sources such as known attacker databases, and even the darknet, which can provide vital attack intelligence. With all this data collated, the core system is able to decide what constitutes an attack and what does not, and packages these decisions into a threat feed for firewalls. Data from hundreds, even thousands of traps is used to form a complex mesh of intelligent insights that are used to identify emerging threats, zero-days, and complex multi-part attacks. The integration of clone traps with a firewall is designed to provide an automated response to all types of threats by leveraging the power of AI and real-time data. Data unification is core to the clone trap's success in attack detection. However, the security team is another essential part of the success mix. Once the decoy is set using the most enticing data and the system hardened, the security team can wait for the attack to begin. Once detected, the cybersecurity platform shares the data with the firewall and the rest of the company's infrastructure, and the firewall automatically blocks the hacker. Your internal security team or SOC uses these alerts to respond to the attack, closing down the pathways that can lead to ransomware infection, data breaches, and other cybersecurity events. Meanwhile, the trap lets the hacker in, revealing all its depths so that you can study his behavior. Ongoing threat intelligence generated by clone traps provides the data needed to create a robust cyber security strategy and to update and adapt the policies based on clone trap feedback. Clone traps take the decoy technique to new levels of response, handling the aftermath of the attack through auto-remediation and auto-healing. Using automation, detection and resolution of cyber threats require no direct human intervention, which removes human error and reduces the time to threat resolution. Also, the intelligence generated by clone traps provides the documentation auditors need to demonstrate that a company is using robust security measures. What if the clone trap is successfully revealed? No one should be able to figure out the trap; however, clone traps must be discoverable, as an undetectable honeypot may lead to hackers finding out that it's a trap. On the contrary, they invite the hacker in. Of course, clone traps have to be close to reality and sufficiently complex, so that the whole concept works by providing information about the hacker's techniques, rather than just distracting them. In a scenario where a hacker has managed to penetrate the clone system, the internal security team or SOC will receive an alert. The report provides complete details on the attack, providing the team with insights into the attack method to allow reverse engineering of the attack. The intelligence gathered will be used to further harden the system against future attacks. The clone trap itself, after being hacked, may either remain unchanged - waiting for the next "victim" - or be protected by a firewall if desired. A question that may come to mind is, “What if a legitimate user, like an employee, falls for a clone trap?” Employees and legitimate users are almost unable to interact with a clone trap. In other words, even though clone traps camouflage themselves as standard services, their unique positioning means that usual clients will rarely stumble upon them without prior knowledge. Hackers, however, are likely to encounter them while searching for vulnerabilities. Clone traps and false positives False positive alerts are a serious problem for the security team. False positives don’t just waste time, but block regular users and create false alert fatigue, which can cause real attack signals to be missed. The following impact can also result in lowered employee morale. Clone traps prevent false positive alerts as legitimate users cannot normally navigate to the cloned instance – the net result is that the intelligence derived from the clone trap is from genuine attackers engaging the clone traps; this data is therefore rich with threat actor IoCs (Indicators of Compromise). As a result, by combining clone trap intelligence with known threat data sources, false positives are effectively eliminated. How AI-powered security bolsters human security professionals Clone traps provide the security team with a powerful tool to automate the detection and resolution of cyber threats. They, however, are augmented by a security professional. Administrators of clone traps provide configuration guidance, and each time a clone trap generates an incident report, they interpret the results, log into systems, set stricter policies, use different configuration approaches, and ensure that config scripts reflect the current challenges. The automated response to cyber threats by clone traps allows security teams to use their industry knowledge to work on strategic system protection. Empowering detection and response using clone traps Clone traps are a result of ongoing research and development. Cybersecurity scientists use their deep knowledge of the threat surface to mimic hackers and understand their deviant tactics. This threat intelligence has allowed researchers to create clone traps perfectly designed to entrap their hacker prey and extract their tactics. By using a mix of AI and human experience, clone traps can stop the most persistent and complex cyber-attacks and stay five steps ahead of cybercriminals.
