# Honeypot

A decoy system deliberately set up to look vulnerable in order to attract, detect, and study attackers.

A **honeypot[↗](/honeypot)** is a decoy computer system, server, or network segment deliberately set up to look like a legitimate, vulnerable target in order to lure attackers away from real assets. Any interaction with a honeypot is inherently suspicious, since no legitimate user has a reason to touch it, making it a highly reliable early-warning system.

Security teams use honeypots to study attacker techniques in a controlled environment, gather threat intelligence[↗](/threat-intelligence), and detect intrusions early without risking real data. Because everything happening inside is fake, defenders can watch an attack unfold safely and learn from it.