HoneyView

HoneyView is a cool tool that helps you collect and visualize data from honeyd, a program used to trick hackers and script-kiddies. If you've ever tried to figure out what’s going on by scrolling through ASCII log files with 'vi', you know it can be super tedious. But no worries! HoneyView makes it much easier to see what's happening.

Understanding HoneyView’s Purpose

The main goal of HoneyView is to take the log data and present it in a way that's easy to read—both graphically and textually. This means you can get a clear overview without sifting through tons of text. Since many actions in honeyd depend on timing, HoneyView allows you to zoom in on specific time intervals too!

Two Main Components of HoneyView

So how does this all work? Well, HoneyView has two key parts:

• First, there are some special shell scripts that run automatically using 'cron'. These scripts help push the honeyd log data into a database management system (DBMS), currently supporting MySQL.


• The second part is a PHP-based web interface that lets you query the honeyd data stored in the database. With just a few clicks, you can generate diagrams that help visualize what’s been happening.

A Quick Overview of Data Gathering

The idea behind HoneyView is pretty simple: it takes information from honeyd's main logfile and stores it in a database. This setup allows for quick searches through large amounts of data using the web interface. You can:

• Query and view your data in plain text format.


• Create diagrams for an instant overview.

How It Works with Cron Jobs

The data gathering part is handled by cron jobs set to run at specific intervals—about once an hour works well. A specially designed HoneyView script reads through the hourly honeyd logfile and sends the information into the database management system. After that, everything becomes accessible via the web interface where results are shown as either diagrams or text based on your preferences.

If you're interested in trying out HoneyView, it's definitely worth checking out for anyone looking to streamline their log analysis process!