The growing interest in deception-based security software from startups like the recently funded GuardiCore Ltd. is starting to draw the attention of more established players as well. The latest entrant into the race is vArmour Inc., which today unveiled a new honeypot tool for its namesake breach prevention system that promises to help organizations deflect hacking attempts.

Setting up decoys to distract attackers and fool them into revealing their tactics is an old trick that dates back to the early days of the web, but it’s attracting renewed interest thanks to recent innovations in security software. Modern honeypot implementations can collect much more information about breach attempts than their predecessors and are typically easier to manage as well. This latter feature is the main selling point of vArmour’s new tool, which is being offered under the name DSS Deception.

According to the company, the product enables organizations to deploy upwards of thousands of decoys without having to individually set up and maintain each node. DSS Deception instead uses the unused network addresses in a data center to quickly create a large number of entry points and then redirects all incoming traffic to a single honeypot. As a result, administrators are able to improve their chances of tricking a hacker into showing their hands while reducing the amount work involved in managing their infrastructure.

The industry can expect to see additional vendors enter the deception-based security space as venture capitalists and enterprises continue warming up to the technology. Incumbent network protection vendors in particular have a big incentive to embrace the trend given the increasing competition they’re facing from the startup crowd, which is rapidly displacing traditional breach prevention software. And the more players end up joining the fray, the harder each provider will work to set its offering apart and develop new features.

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