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Creative IT Institute

ID: CEH-2404
Name: Morium Mohini
Mentor: Shajid Ahmed Khan

Implementing Cowrie Honeypot for SSH

Monitoring
Introduction
In the realm of cybersecurity, honeypots serve as a strategic method to detect, analyze, and
respond to malicious activities. A honeypot is a decoy system designed to lure attackers and
observe their methods, providing invaluable insights into their tactics. One of the most
critical areas of concern is Secure Shell (SSH), which is widely used for secure remote
administration. This assignment explores the implementation of Cowrie, a popular SSH and
Telnet honeypot, to monitor and analyze unauthorized access attempts.

What is Cowrie?
Cowrie is an open-source honeypot designed to simulate an SSH server, allowing for the
capture of interactions with attackers.
Key Features:

● SSH Emulation: Cowrie can imitate a vulnerable SSH server, enticing attackers to
engage with it.
● Brute-force Attack Logging: It logs all attempted logins, including failed attempts,
providing insights into common attack patterns.
● Session Capture: Cowrie captures the full interaction of attackers, recording
commands they attempt to execute.

Setting Up Cowrie
System Requirements:

● A Linux-based operating system (e.g., Ubuntu).

● Python 3.6 or higher. ● Twisted framework.
● Additional libraries

Installation Steps:

1. Environment Setup: Create a virtual machine or use a

cloud instance to ensure isolation from critical systems.

2 . Install Dependencies:
1 sudo apt update
2 sudo apt install python3-pip python3-dev libssl-dev
3 sudo pip3 install and more
3 . Cowrie Installation

1.git clone https://github.com/cowrie/cowrie.git

2.cd cowrie
3.virtualenv cowrie-env
4.source cowrie-env/bin/activate
5.pip install -r requirements.txt
4.Configuration: Edit cowrie.cfg to customize settings such
as listening ports and logging options.
Running Cowrie
Starting the Honeypot:

Run Cowrie by executing:

# ./bin/cowrie start

Monitoring Activity:
Cowrie provides a web interface accessible through a browser, displaying real-time
statistics. Additionally, log files are generated in the log directory, detailing all
captured activities.
Analyzing Collected Data
Types of Data Captured:

● Brute-force Login Attempts: Detailed logs of usernames and passwords

attempted.
● Command Executions: The specific commands entered by attackers during
their sessions.

Data Analysis Tools:

To analyze the captured data, you can use tools like the ELK (Elasticsearch,
Logstash, Kibana) stack, which helps visualize and search through the logs
effectively.

Security Implications
Advantages of Using Cowrie:

● Insight into Attacker Behavior: By studying the data captured, organizations

can understand the techniques used by attackers.

● Early Warning: Identifying vulnerabilities in SSH configurations can prompt

remediation before real exploits occur.

Potential Risks:
● Misconfiguration: If not set up properly, a honeypot can inadvertently expose
real vulnerabilities in the network.
● Legal Considerations: Deploying a honeypot may raise legal issues regarding
data collection and privacy.

Conclusion
Cowrie is a powerful tool for enhancing SSH security
through proactive monitoring and data collection. By
implementing this honeypot, organizations can gain
significant insights into attacker behavior, allowing them to
strengthen their defenses. Future work may involve
integrating Cowrie with other security tools and expanding
its capabilities for more comprehensive threat detection