Honeytoken

Noun · Security & Infosec

Definitions

  1. A fake secret, credential, record, or other attractive data item planted so any use or access attempt is a high-confidence signal of compromise or misuse. Honeytokens can be API keys, documents, database rows, or credentials that should never be touched in normal operations.

    In plain English: A fake but believable secret or data item used to catch attackers.

    Example: "The alert came from a honeytoken AWS key that existed only to detect credential theft."

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