The Honeypot
The BBC (thanks Slashdot) is running a very interesting series on computer security. Here's what they're doing:Using a computer acting as a so-called "honeypot" the BBC has been regularly logging how many potential net-borne attacks hit the average Windows PC every day.
...The BBC honeypot was a standard PC running Windows XP Pro that was made as secure as possible. This ran a software program called VMWare which allows it to host another "virtual" PC inside the host. Via VMWare we installed an unprotected version of Windows XP Home configured like any domestic PC.
...When we put this machine online it was, on average, hit by a potential security assault every 15 minutes. None of these attacks were solicited, merely putting the machine online was enough to attract them. The fastest an attack struck was mere seconds and it was never longer than 15 minutes before the honeypot logged an attempt to subvert it.
It's an interesting article, and it's part one of a multi-part series. You can read it here.
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