Design and Implementation of Smart-H Pot: A Custom Intrusion Detection System

Abstract

In the digital world with all new cyber threats evolving constantly, protecting digital world from unauthorized access with new threats is more important than ever. Traditional Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS) often fail in capturing real-world attacker behavior due to this constant evolving. To fill the gap of evolving, we are introducing Smart-HPot a lightweighted, custom-built IDS that basically uses a honeypot approach to detect and monitor malicious activities in real time. The system provides the services such as SSH and HTTP within a controlled virtual environment, tempting attackers to attack the honeypot and logging their actions without compromising actual infrastructure. Developed using Python’s built-in modules like socket and logging, Smart-HPot records interaction data and sends it to Admin Website which is a user-friendly web dashboard powered by Flask, enables admin with real-time threat visualization and tracking. Unlike traditional IDS tools, Smart-HPot will be easy to deploy, resource-efficient, and can be adaptable to different network environments. This design used in it makes it suitable for both small scale organizations and academic research cybersecurity operations. By offering a clear view of attacker’s behavior and patterns, Smart-HPot stands as a cost-effective and proactive security measure. The project highlights the importance of deception technology and sets the stage for future enhancements.