Honeypot Threat Analysis — July 18, 2026
Critical threat level — massive coordinated attack activity across all honeypot services.
2026-07-18 Honey-AI.Dev Threat Report
Overview:
Today’s threat activity on the Raspberry Pi 5 honeypot in Spain exhibited a mix of brute force attacks and advanced post-exploitation techniques, with significant traffic from multiple sources. The network has been under continuous surveillance, identifying over 38 attackers based on their IP addresses, usernames, and geographic locations.
Geographical Distribution:
The top five sources of activity are from the United States (1429 IPs), China (715 IPs), Belgium (278 IPs), Pakistan (228 IPs), and Netherlands (222 IPs). This distribution reflects a global attack pattern typical of cybercriminals targeting vulnerable targets across different regions.
Top Targets:
The honeypot is primarily targeted by users from the United States, China, and Europe. This indicates that these areas are likely experiencing heightened threats due to their reliance on open-source software and services provided by Raspberry Pi 5.
Geographical Distribution (Detailed):
- United States: 1429 IPs
- China: 715 IPs
- Belgium: 278 IPs
- Pakistan: 228 IPs
- Netherlands: 222 IPs
Threat Overview:
The honeypot received a total of 38 attackers, with critical activity identified by Suricata IDS. The attackers used multiple protocols including SSH, FTP, Telnet, SMTP, MySQL, Redis, Git, VNC, and RDP to access the system.
Post-Exploitation Techniques:
The top post-exploitation techniques included changing root permissions on a file in the .ssh directory, creating a self-destructing script for compromised systems, and deleting key logs. These actions suggest that attackers are actively trying to maintain their foothold on the honeypot by altering system configurations.
Malware Activity:
There were no instances of malware captured or detected during today’s activities. The absence of malware suggests that the network remains relatively clean despite the significant threat activity.
Tarpit and Backfire Scans:
No tarpit data was reported, indicating that the honeypot is not being actively monitored for any unusual traffic patterns. There were no backfire scans or open ports detected, suggesting a low risk of lateral movement through the network.
Canarytokens:
Three instances of the “canarytoken” trigger were detected, which could indicate attempts to bypass security measures by providing additional information during login processes. The specific token provided was an AWS Boto3 authentication string, highlighting potential attacks against cloud infrastructure management systems.
SCP Trap:
Six requests for SCP data were received, indicating that attackers are actively targeting the honeypot’s file system and attempting to access sensitive information or files. This is a concerning indicator of ongoing efforts by attackers to exploit vulnerabilities within the network.
Portscans:
No port scans were detected today, suggesting that the network remains secure against this type of attack. The absence of open ports indicates minimal risk of remote exploitation through common reconnaissance methods.
AI Defense and Community Defense:
The honeypot has been configured with 3 injection blocks and no leak blocks for AI defense tools, indicating a focus on protecting against automated attacks rather than traditional ethical hacking techniques. There were also no community defenses reported, suggesting that the network is not being monitored by any third-party security teams.
Conclusion:
Despite the significant threat activity detected today, the Raspberry Pi 5 honeypot remains relatively secure and well-defended. The presence of multiple attackers from various regions underscores the importance of ongoing vulnerability management and perimeter defense strategies to protect against sophisticated cyber threats. Given the recent trend towards more aggressive attacks using advanced techniques like post-exploitation scripts and canarytokens, it is crucial for security teams to continuously adapt their defensive measures to keep up with evolving threat landscapes.
Pi5/Spain/Open-Source
This analysis was generated by qwen2.5:1.5b running locally on the Raspberry Pi 5 honeypot lab. All data comes from real attacks captured in the last 24 hours by HoneyAI. View the raw data report for complete metrics.