In the context of Information Technology, a honeypot is a security measure similar to a sting operation carried out by police to catch criminals ─ by providing an attractive target for hackers, bot masters or cybercriminals to attack or steal data from. In the process, however, the attackers and their behavior, means of attack, and possibly their location or other telltale information are analyzed by the honeypot host. This information is then used to prevent further attacks and strengthen any IT systems that were vulnerable to the attacker’s techniques. Honeypots can also be deployed for purely research and reporting purposes, in contrast to ‘production’ honeypots that are used to actively analyze and prevent potential attacks.