Honeytrace Technology

In this chapter, we take an in-depth look at an active, countermeasure-capable defense system—the Honeytrace (This chapter is founded by Construction of Cyber Range Platform—Provincial Key Laboratory of National Defense 69-62291914) system. The system is designed to enable precise attribution and counteraction: Its technical pathway centers first on a stealthy tracing program (Trace Client), then secures reliable deployment of that program through program-protection techniques, and finally uses high-fidelity operational scenarios to accurately lure adversaries, thus forming a complete closed loop from bait deployment and induced download to attribution and countermeasure. The Honeytrace contains three modules: trace module, trace protection module, and scenario generation module. Trace module is responsible for generating high-fidelity decoy files, accurately capturing attacker information, and tailoring dynamic countermeasure strategies to attackers of different threat levels; the trace protection module covers Trace Client throughout its full lifecycle, providing multilayered defenses to assist covert deployment and survival in hostile environments; and the scenario generation module constructs high-fidelity lure environments, leveraging large-model capabilities to dynamically synthesize scenarios aligned with attacker preferences and intelligently embed the Trace Client, enabling precise entrapment and countermeasure support. Through deep coordination between these three modules, the Honeytrace system can proactively detect and counter network attacks, significantly improving the intelligence of the defense architecture and the adversarial resilience.