More Orgs Use Booby Traps for Counterintelligence

A recent survey found that to gain counterintelligence the vast majority of organizations would allow an attacker to take decoy files rather than stop an attack in progress, according to the latest International Cyber Benchmark Index from the Neustar International Security Council (NISC). A reported one in five companies are currently employing forensic investigations, as well as setting up honey pots and repositories of fake data to lure attackers in, but an impressive 71% of respondents said that instead of shutting down an attack when a bad actor accesses a deceptive file, they would be willing to let the malicious actors take booby-trapped document, according to a May 16 press release. Being able to collect intelligence could allow defenders to identify thieves in the future, potentially revealing information about the location, ownership and possible vulnerabilities of the hackers’ machines, the press release said.