In the world of network servers, the term "honeypot" refers to a server that is placed in an environment for the sole purpose of attracting those who are snooping around, and capturing their activities within the honeypot server. Honeycombing a database is a very similar approach and involves creating "decoy" tables within a database that appear to contain valid, and unprotected, sensitive data. When unauthorized activity occurs on the decoy table, it is captured in an audit table and a notification is sent to the appropriate parties.

I recently came across an interesting book entitled Protecting SQL Server Data, From the previous url you can download a free 220 page ebook and this article is taken from chapter 1 in which you learn how to set a "honey trap" for would-be data thieves, allowing the DBA to identify the precursors of an attack and respond quickly and also to better understand the techniques being used to breach existing security measures.

It is certainly worth a read if database security is important to you or you have any sites that have been hacked through SQL injection.

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