Honey Traps
The Kill Chain is the cybercrime thriller from Scotland’s newest writer, GJ Scobie, published by Darkstroke publishing, in the summer of 2022. This blog post is one in a series called Facts behind the Fiction, in which I take an aspect of the plot and provide factual background material, giving an insight into the real world of cyber security and those who work tirelessly to defend our networks and data.
So, what is a honey trap?
This is a term to describe the practice of setting up a relationship, usually involving some level of intimacy with the goal of obtaining political or company secrets. It may also be simply for monetary gain using blackmail. It is an old practice and there are many examples throughout history. Communication with the target is established and then using social engineering – the use of deception to manipulate individuals into divulging confidential or personal information – to convince the target the genuine nature of the contact, the scenario is played out until those running the trap decide the return on their effort has met their requirements. I have been told of such practices around the bars and restaurants located within the vicinity of the financial districts in major cities, where the promise of sex is on offer. However, it is not confined to those areas, and could be deployed anywhere and in any situation. The use of a honey trap, along with covert video surveillance is featured in ‘The Kill Chain’ and is used to devastating effect.
Next time, DDOS. What is it?
The Fiction Factory 