HonSSH alternatives
Looking for an alternative tool to replace HonSSH? During the review of HonSSH we looked at other open source tools. Based on their category, tags, and text, these are the ones that have the best match.
Top 3
- Cowrie (SSH/telnet honeypot)
- Dockpot (SSH honeypot based on Docker)
- SSH Honeypot (SSH honeypot)
These tools are ranked as the best alternatives to HonSSH.
Alternatives (by score)
Cowrie
Introduction
Cowrie is a honeypot to emulate SSH and telnet services. It can be used to learn attack methods and as an additional layer for security monitoring.Project details
Cowrie is written in Python.
Strengths and weaknesses
- + More than 50 contributors
- + More than 1000 GitHub stars
Typical usage
- Information gathering
- Learning
- Security monitoring
- Threat discovery
Dockpot
Introduction
Using an SSH honeypot is a good way to learn about common attacks on the SSH service. It can provide insights on the number of scans and probes on the network.
Project details
Dockpot is written in Python.
Strengths and weaknesses
- + The source code of this software is available
- - No releases on GitHub available
Typical usage
- Learning
- Threat discovery
SSH Honeypot
Introduction
SSH Honeypot is as the name implies a honeypot to emulate the SSH service. It can be used to learn about threats and commands used by attackers.Project details
SSH Honeypot is written in C.
Strengths and weaknesses
- + The source code of this software is available
Typical usage
- Learning
- Threat discovery
Kojoney2
Introduction
Kojoney2 is an SSH honeypot based on Kojoney by Jose Antonio Coret. It can be used to learn about threats by mimicking an SSH service.Project details
Kojoney2 is written in Python.
Strengths and weaknesses
- + The source code of this software is available
- - No updates for a while
Typical usage
- Learning
- Threat discovery
SSHHiPot
Introduction
SSHHiPot is a high-interaction SSH honeypot. It captures connections and commands that are to be performed, for the purpose of learning about possible threats.Project details
SSHHiPot is written in Golang.
Strengths and weaknesses
- + The source code of this software is available
Typical usage
- Learning
- Threat discovery
sshesame
Introduction
A honeypot can provide valuable insights on commands that automated scripts perform or attackers. By running a honeypot like sshesame, connection details and commands are stored for later analysis. The system itself won't execute the actual commands, to prevent any damage to it.
Project details
sshesame is written in Golang.
Strengths and weaknesses
- + The source code of this software is available
- - No releases on GitHub available
Typical usage
- Learning
- Threat discovery
Dionaea
Introduction
Dionaea is a honeypot that can emulate a range of services like FTP, HTTP, MySQL, and SMB. It can be used to see and learn how attackers work.Project details
Dionaea is written in C.
Strengths and weaknesses
- + The source code of this software is available
- - Full name of author is unknown
Typical usage
- Learning
- Threat discovery
Heralding
Introduction
Heralding is a simple honeypot to collect credentials. It supports common protocols like FTP, SSH, HTTP, etc.Project details
Heralding is written in Python.
Strengths and weaknesses
- + Many releases available
- + The source code of this software is available
MTPot
Introduction
MTPot is a so-called telnet honeypot that allows to bind and listen on a specific port. It can be configured to allow specific commands and the related responses to return. The tool also performs fingerprinting to discover what type of attack is occuring and send these details via syslog.Project details
MTPot is written in Python.
Strengths and weaknesses
- + Very low number of dependencies
- + The source code of this software is available
Typical usage
- Learning
- Threat discovery
Thug
Introduction
The honeypot concept is a well-known technique to collect attack patterns on servers and systems. Tools like Thug are considered to be a honeyclient, or client honeypot. These tools collect attacks against client applications. For example by mimicking a web application and visit a malicious page to see if any code is attacking the application.
Project details
Thug is written in Python.
Strengths and weaknesses
- + The source code of this software is available
Typical usage
- Learning
- Malware analysis
- Threat discovery
mehrai
Introduction
Honeypots like mehrai can be used to learn more about incoming attacks. It might be useful to determine threats to your network or about the steps that attackers perform.
Project details
mehrai is written in Python.
Strengths and weaknesses
- + The source code of this software is available
Typical usage
- Learning
- Network security monitoring
- Security monitoring
Fail2ban
Introduction
Fail2Ban is an intrusion prevention software framework that protects computer servers from brute-force attacksProject details
Fail2ban is written in Python.
Strengths and weaknesses
- + More than 2000 GitHub stars
- + The source code of this software is available
Typical usage
- Network traffic filtering
- Security monitoring
OpenSSH
Introduction
OpenSSH is a much-used connectivity tool for remote administration of Linux systems. It uses the SSH protocol and encrypts all traffic to eliminate eavesdropping, connection hijacking, and other related attacks.
Project details
SSHsec
Introduction
SSHsec scans a system running the SSH protocol and retrieves its configuration, host keys, and Diffie-Hellman groups.Project details
SSHsec is written in Python.
Strengths and weaknesses
- + The source code of this software is available
Typical usage
- Information gathering
- Penetration testing
- Security assessment
known_hosts_bruteforcer
Introduction
This utility is useful when you obtained a known_hosts file, but can't decipher the hashed hostnames from it.
Project details
known_hosts_bruteforcer is written in Perl.
Strengths and weaknesses
- + The source code of this software is available
- - No updates for a while
Typical usage
- Digital forensics
- Penetration testing
ssh-audit
Introduction
The ssh-audit tool is of great help when scanning SSH servers to discover possible improvements. It is written in Python and with a simple 'git clone' it can already be started. You typically would use a tool like this to improve your own SSH configurations or as part of a security assignment.
Project details
ssh-audit is written in Python.
Strengths and weaknesses
- + The source code is easy to read and understand
- + Tool is easy to use
- + More than 2000 GitHub stars
- + Very low number of dependencies
- + The source code of this software is available
Typical usage
- Application security
- Penetration testing
- Security assessment
ssh_scan
Introduction
This tool is light on its dependencies, as it only uses Ruby and BinData. The scanner is simple to use, as it is limited in the number of parameters and options. There is also the ability to show the results on the screen or export the data to a JSON file. The latter is great if you want to do further processing of the details, or simply store them for later comparison.
Project details
ssh_scan is written in Ruby.
Strengths and weaknesses
- + More than 10 contributors
- + Many releases available
- + The source code of this software is available
- + Supported by a large company
Typical usage
- Penetration testing
- Security assessment
- System hardening
- Vulnerability scanning
sshttp
Introduction
This tool allows you to run a web server and SSH daemon on the same TCP port. It can be useful to bypass some firewall restrictions.
Project details
sshttp is written in C++.
Strengths and weaknesses
- + Project is mature (5+ years)
- - Unknown project license
Typical usage
- Bypassing firewall rules
- Protocol multiplexing
sslh
Introduction
A typical use case for multiplexing is to allow serving several services on one port. Port 443 is commonly used, as that is typically opened on firewalls to allow HTTPS traffic. By multiplexing it, you can also use SSH or other services on the same port.
Project details
Conpot
Introduction
Conpot is an ICS honeypot to collect intelligence and information about attacks against industrial control systems. It is written in Python.Project details
Conpot is written in Python.
Strengths and weaknesses
- + More than 25 contributors
- + The source code of this software is available
Typical usage
- Information gathering
- Intrusion detection
- Learning
HonTel
Introduction
HonTel is a honeypot that emulates the telnet service within a chroot environment. It can be used to learn about enumeration activities or new attack methods.Project details
HonTel is written in Python.
Strengths and weaknesses
- + The source code of this software is available
Typical usage
- Learning
- Security monitoring
HoneyPi
Introduction
A honeypot is useful to learn more about the network probes that are happening. As this project uses a Raspberry Pi, the investments for a deployment are low.
Project details
HoneyPi is written in Python.
Strengths and weaknesses
- + The source code of this software is available
Typical usage
- Learning
- Network analysis
HoneyPy
Introduction
The honeypot can be extended by plugins and customization is possible as well. This may increase the interaction level that the honeypot can support. All activity is logged to a file, with the option to post activity to Twitter or a web server.
Project details
HoneyPy is written in Python.
Strengths and weaknesses
- + The source code of this software is available
Typical usage
- Security monitoring
Honeyprint
Introduction
There is not much information available about this project, as it is a proof-of-concept on GitHub. It is written by Lukas Rist in 2013, and placed on GitHub early 2016.
Project details
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