Honeypot Threat Analysis — August 20, 2026
Critical threat level — massive coordinated attack activity across all honeypot services.
Cybersecurity Analysis for August 20, 2026
Threat Overview
The honeypot system on Raspberry Pi 5 in Spain has logged a significant number of activities over the past few days. SSH sessions were conducted by approximately 1628 connections, while commands executed numbered around 32 instances out of an active total of 819. The network was also accessed via multiple protocols including FTP, Telnet, SMTP, MySQL, Redis, Git, VNC, and RDP.
Network Traffic
Multi-protocol traffic accounted for 2454 events out of the total of 135 IP addresses involved. HTTP requests were recorded at 63 instances from 36 IPs, indicating potential exploitation through web-based services such as login pages or API endpoints.
IDS/Inspection Tools
The Honey-AI system has reported a critical level of IDS alerts with 6395 warnings per day across 561 IPs. The highest number of alerts is attributed to an IP address from the abuse database, which suggests ongoing attempts to exploit known vulnerabilities or advanced persistent threats (APTs).
Malware Analysis
No malware was detected in any traffic captured over the period.
Geographical Distribution and Top Targets
The majority of attacks originated from United States, with 453 unique IPs. China follows closely with 82 IPs, followed by Germany with 66 IPs and the UK with 56 IPs. Belgium has a relatively small number but still represents significant activity with 56 IPs.
SSH Brute Force Attempts
The most notable SSH brute force attempt was detected on IP addresses from “173.212.237.38”, originating from Boto3/1.43.51, a Python library for interacting with AWS services. The attacker attempted to bypass authentication using common weak passwords like 4813494d137e1631 and 8c6976e5b5410415.
Post-Exploitation Tactics
The system logged detailed information on command execution, including the use of Unix utilities such as uname, cat /proc/cpuinfo, and shell commands to manipulate file attributes. These techniques suggest that attackers were actively exploring the operating system for potential vulnerabilities or establishing footholds within the network.
Web Scanning Activity
HTTP traffic was recorded from 63 unique IPs, with paths like /, /login, /SDK/webLanguage, /v2/_catalog, and /zc?action=getInfo being frequently accessed. This suggests a targeted reconnaissance of web-based systems rather than malicious intent but indicates that the system is vulnerable to certain types of attacks.
IDS & Scan Intel
The IDS reports identified 6395 alerts, indicating an active environment with continuous monitoring for threats. The use of multiple protocols and high alert levels suggest ongoing security assessments or attempts at network penetration testing.
Malware Analysis (Negative)
No malware was detected in any traffic captured over the period, which is a positive indicator but also suggests that the system remains vulnerable to certain types of attacks targeting its own vulnerabilities rather than external ones.
Tarpit Traffic
The system has successfully trapped 27 connections from 19 IPs, indicating that it can effectively deter attackers and maintain a secure environment. The tarpitting technique is known for its effectiveness in denying service or slowing down an attacker’s connection speed without actually disconnecting them.
Canarytokens Analysis
The system reported the use of “canarytokens,” likely referring to tokens used to identify and track traffic from specific users or locations, such as AWS tokens. This suggests that the honeypot is designed to monitor user-agent strings for potential authentication bypasses or other security vulnerabilities.
MCP Trap
An MCP trap was triggered on 11 requests from four IPs, indicating a targeted attempt to exploit known vulnerabilities in the system’s components.
Portscans and Tools
The system did not detect any port scans targeting its services or attempts at network reconnaissance. This suggests that the honeypot is effectively shielding its services while still providing valuable insights into potential security threats.
AI Defense (Negative)
There were no injection or leak blocking mechanisms in place, indicating a basic level of protection but failing to adequately secure against sophisticated cyber attacks.
Community Defense
The system has successfully defended itself against known threats and attempts at penetration testing. The presence of detailed command traces suggests that the honeypot is capable of providing valuable insights into potential attacker techniques.
Conclusion
The Raspberry Pi 5 honeypot in Spain remains an active threat environment, with a significant number of SSH brute force attempts, targeted reconnaissance through web-based systems, and ongoing network monitoring for security threats. The system’s ability to trap connections and effectively handle tarpit traffic suggests that it is well-positioned to defend against external attacks while still providing valuable data to researchers and cybersecurity professionals. The presence of detailed command traces indicates a high level of detail in the system’s defensive mechanisms but should be complemented with more robust protection strategies for added security.
Pi5/Spain/Open-Source
This analysis serves as an important reference for those developing honeypots or conducting research on network security, highlighting best practices and areas for improvement.
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.