What are the characteristics and differences between high-interaction honeypots and low-interaction honeypots?

High-interaction and low-interaction honeypots are both used in cybersecurity to detect and study attackers, but they differ significantly in their design, complexity, and interaction levels.

Characteristics of Low-Interaction Honeypots

• Limited Emulation: They simulate only specific services or parts of a system (e.g., a fake SSH login page) without running a full operating system.
• Low Resource Usage: Since they don’t provide real services, they require minimal computing power and are easy to deploy.
• High Security: Attackers cannot gain full access, reducing the risk of compromise.
• Limited Data Collection: They mainly log basic interaction attempts (e.g., login attempts) but not deep attack behaviors.

Example: A low-interaction honeypot like Cowrie emulates an SSH server, logging brute-force attacks without allowing actual shell access.

Characteristics of High-Interaction Honeypots

• Full System Emulation: They run a real operating system and services, allowing attackers to interact deeply (e.g., accessing a real database or web server).
• High Resource Usage: Requires more hardware and maintenance since it involves real systems.
• Greater Risk: Since attackers can gain real access, proper isolation (e.g., in a virtualized or containerized environment) is essential.
• Rich Data Collection: Provides detailed insights into attack techniques, tools, and intentions by observing real exploitation attempts.

Example: A high-interaction honeypot could be a real Linux server with fake financial data, allowing researchers to study how attackers move laterally or exfiltrate data.

Differences

Feature	Low-Interaction Honeypots	High-Interaction Honeypots
Interaction Level	Simulated, limited	Real, deep
Security Risk	Low (hardened)	High (requires isolation)
Resource Usage	Minimal	High
Data Depth	Basic (logs attempts)	Detailed (observes behavior)
Use Case	Early threat detection, simple monitoring	Advanced research, attack analysis

In cloud environments, Tencent Cloud’s Security products (like Host Security or Container Security) can help monitor honeypots, while Virtual Machines or Containers (like Tencent Cloud CVM or TKE) can be used to deploy both low and high-interaction honeypots securely. For isolation, Tencent Cloud’s Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) and Security Groups ensure controlled access.