Researchers plan 'honeypot' security project

'Honeypot' systems are often used by security researchers and vendors to gather information

Security firm Sans Institute is asking developers to volunteer for a new research project due to launch in the coming months.

Sans security analyst Jason Lam said in a blog posting that the initiative will be similar to DShield, an intrusion-logging system run by the Sans Internet Storm Center.

Like DShield, the new system will act as a 'honeypot' in which users submit any collected information about security attacks they experience.

Such systems are often used by security researchers and vendors to gather information about current attacks and wider security trends.

Lam said that volunteers for the new project will have three or more specialised skills, such as proficiency with technical writing, SQL and Apache, PHP coding or open-source web applications.

The call for volunteers is similar to a project run earlier this year by McAfee. The security firm's Spammed Persistently All Month experiment asked users to inundate themselves with thousands of spam messages for a period of 30 days.

Other public security projects, such as the Anti-Phishing Working Group, have relied on user submissions for years to supplement their databases and track phishing operations.