Cloud decoys

AWS IAM honeytoken: detect stolen access keys

HorasEye issues real IAM keys you plant like production credentials. When an attacker uses them with the AWS CLI or an SDK, you get a high-confidence alert.

Stolen AWS keys are a common path into cloud accounts. They show up in Git history, laptop disk images, CI logs, and leaked .env files. An AWS IAM honeytoken is a decoy access key that should never be used by your team. First use is the detection.

HorasEye hosts the IAM user and keys. You copy a profile into ~/.aws/credentials, an AMI, a runbook, or a "break glass" note. There is no agent and no change to your own AWS accounts beyond planting the decoy where attackers look.

Where to plant it

  • Decoy profile on staging jump hosts and golden AMIs
  • Backup copies of credential files in shared drives
  • Internal wikis that describe "legacy AWS access"
  • Next to supply-chain secrets in a fake .env so a scraper takes both

Related cloud decoys

On Pro you can also create a decoy S3 bucket with a name you choose. Team adds AWS Bedrock API keys and Azure login certificates. DNS and HTTP honeytoken tripwires remain useful when you want a callback without a live cloud principal.

FAQ

AWS honeytoken questions

How real IAM decoys work, and which HorasEye plans include them.

It is a real IAM access key pair that HorasEye hosts for you. You never use it for production work. If someone runs aws sts get-caller-identity or similar with those keys, you get an alert.

Deploy your first decoy

Pro includes AWS IAM honeytokens and decoy S3 buckets. Start on Free for DNS and HTTP decoys, then upgrade when you are ready for live cloud keys.

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