NetStar Introduces IoT Device Honeypot Capability

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 24, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- NetSTAR today announced a best-of-breed, cybersecurity capability to detect threats associated with Internet of Things (IoT) devices, available to networking and security vendors for their products and solutions as part of NetSTAR's award-winning inCompass® internet categorization and threat intelligence solution.

For some internet security professionals, IoT devices are a high priority. However, many other security professionals do not fully understand the threat potential of IoT and are not taking appropriate steps. NetSTAR security experts recognize the tremendous need to monitor and secure IoT devices, and this new capability enhances our existing malware detection practices and adds greater value to inCompass.

IoT devices may include home automation, smart TVs and speakers, appliances, wearables, smart city components including building security systems, weather condition monitors, manufacturing sensors, and more. Such devices are being deployed worldwide at a rapid pace. Many IoT devices are attack targets, and a significant number of these internet-enabled devices do not have the same strength of threat protection technology as traditional networking equipment. Some have little to no protection at all and represent network access points for internet-based threats.

NetSTAR is now leveraging a complex honeypot system using both real IoT devices and emulated network services to observe attacks in IoT devices. Conventional honeypot systems cannot detect all threats because of the complexity of attack patterns, and because the emergence of short-lived malware has increased the number of threats.  By observing these combinations, it is possible to detect unauthorized requests that were previously difficult to observe with a conventional system, and to provide more extensive and immediate threat countermeasure data.

The IoT honeypot production environment uses multiple IoT devices and a large number of IP addresses to detect IoT device-based attacks. And the virtual environment allows for observations of attacks on ports other than well-known ports, by generating traffic against a large number of such ports and capturing the responses to the traffic communication. These IoT honeypot systems allow researchers to observe short-lived attacks via Telnet and HTTP, malware downloads, and commands executed over dangerous remote connections. Botnet-related IoT attacks are increasing; the honeypot systems allow researchers to identify IP addresses associated with botnet attacks.

Daniel Ashby, Sr. Vice President of NetSTAR, explains "NetSTAR is leveraging threat countermeasure data based on the IoT honeypot systems. We have multiple servers processing the honeypot system data, categorizing associated IPs as malicious, and updating our global inCompass® database so that our technology and telco partners have up-to-date visibility into these security vulnerabilities."  Mr. Ashby continued by explaining "our OEM partners use this intelligence to power their web filtering solutions, enhance their threat information capabilities, and create new network policies around IoT devices."

NetSTAR is the global leader in internet categorization and security solutions for the OEM market. We categorize billions of URLs, domains, and IP addresses, and give our technology and telco partners visibility into the dynamic internet landscape. With our telemetry data from over one billion endpoints, our proprietary categorization technologies, and our partnerships with internet, security and adtech industry leaders, we provide unparalleled URL categorization and threat intelligence. More information is available at https://netstar.io.

If you would like to discuss this release with a NetSTAR team member, inquire via +1 650.600.3850.

Media Contact:
Steve Earnshaw
+1 650.600.3850
[email protected]

SOURCE NetSTAR, Inc.