The next time if you hear a media story on a company’s data breach, be aware that this could be a ploy played by the FBI on identifying hackers/ groups. Yes, the US law enforcement agency thinks that fake data can be used to lure hackers to hack a network in order to find their identity in detail.
Highly placed sources from the FBI say that the American agency has started an exclusive program named IDLE- Illicit Data Loss Exploitation where companies often store bad data in their servers and use that data as honeypots to trap hackers who are constantly in the lookout to steal valuable or sensitive info. The objective is to keep a track of fraudsters who often turn out to be freelancers hired by tech companies to spy or report on the activity of their competitors.
Although, not much is known about FBI’s program titled IDLE in practical, a source who likes to report anonymously said that the data set will be mixed with some company data to look it authentic and this in-turn will attract the hackers to infiltrate into the network- which then allows the law enforcement authority to track down cyber crooks and corporate spies.
However, security analysts say that there is no guarantee that this activity will prove 100% effective as media exposure of such programs might alert the hackers to a level where they show cautiousness while hacking corporate servers.
But the FBI says that its IDLE program will help the companies proactively prepare their cyber defense-line by confusing the hackers instead of reacting to data breaches after their occurrence.
