Honeynet UNAMex Lab

Who are we?

Honeynet UNAMex Lab is an independent, open research cybersecurity group organized by volunteers with diverse backgrounds, including DFIR, Threat Hunting, System Administration, Threat Intelligence, and Cyber Deception/Honeypots.

Our members and collaborators come from both industry and academia. The team’s roots trace back to projects developed or inspired by work within the former UNAM-CERT and The Honeynet Project as UNAM Chapter (Mirror archive).

Our Main Focus Areas Include:

• Deception and Honeypot Research & Development
• Threat Detection Engineering
• Network Security
• Network Forensics
• Malware Analysis
• Yes.. AI and CyberSecurity (LLM-based deception/honeypot, LLM Security, etc)

Our members and collaborators come from both industry and academia. The team’s roots trace back to projects developed or inspired by work within the former UNAM-CERT and The Honeynet Project as the UNAM Chapter ([Mirror archive]).

Main Focus Areas

• Deception and Honeypot Research & Development
• Threat Detection Engineering
• Network Security
• Network Forensics
• Malware Analysis

As you may readin the team’s history below, while this marks a new chapter in 2025, our roots trace back to the early 2000s.

A Look into Our History

The Honeynet Project has had a presence in Mexico since at least 2006, beginning as the Mexican Honeynet Project (Mexican Chapter). In 2007, the UNAM Honeynet Project (Proyecto Honeynet UNAM in Spanish) was launched as a local chapter of The Honeynet Project, with activity extending across Mexico and Latin America. It was initiated by members of the UNAM-CERT (Computer Security Incident Response Team of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM)), who had been working with honeypot technologies within the university network since 2002.

Over the next decade, the UNAM Chapter developed a variety of projects, including:

• Plan de Sensores de Tráfico Malicioso (PSTM) - Malicious Traffic Sensor Network
• UNAM-Darknet - A large scale Honeypot/Sinkhole network (50-70K Public IP addresses with dynamic routing)
• UNAM Security Telescope

Note: Both designs, UNAM-Darknet and UNAM Security Telescope were partially documented as they were the outcome of a Bachelor tesis Darknet, motor de detección de tráfico malicioso para el telescopio de seguridad de la UNAM (Local Mirror)

These efforts focused on building a sensor network using honeypot and network traffic analysis technologies to detect, process, and visualize malicious activity across academic networks in Mexico (within universities and research institutes infrastructure). The results contributed valuable cyber threat intelligence and technical references, strengthening national cybersecurity research and incident response at the time.

The UNAM-Chapter also collaborated with internal initiatives and projects within UNAM-CERT, such as:

• UNAM Malware Analysis Project
• Computer Security International Conference
• Cybersecurity training programs (1-2 year specialization training program)

Notable collaborations included the UNAM Sandbox, network forensics and training on intrusion detection and honeypot technologies.

Between 2015 and 2020, a new chapter, COSMIC-Chapter, was created by former UNAM-Chapter members who continued their involvement in The Honeynet Project independently. This sister chapter maintained indirect communication and collaboration with UNAM-Chapter until 2022. Some of the noticeable developments and collaboration during this time (2014) was Passive Network Audit Framework (PNAF) (HowTo)

A New Beginning from 2025!

While the project experienced reduced activity in recent years, enthusiasm has returned, and a new generation of projects is now underway. We are proud to announce a fresh chapter this 2025: Honeynet UNAMex Lab.

During Feb/March 2025, our new members have met to define the new Team, ideas, projects and the overall structure for the collaboration.

Like all fields in technology, cybersecurity evolves rapidly. This new phase means adapting to current trends, tools, protocols, and data analysis strategies. Areas like cyberdeception and the integration of artificial intelligence are especially important in this evolution.

Our Vision as Open Community

The new Honeynet UNAMex Lab is grounded in over two decades of experience from its members. Our team includes professionals and researchers from academic, operational, engineering, and teaching backgrounds—across both academia and industry.

We welcome:

• Researchers
• Students
• Educators
• Volunteers

If you’re passionate about cybersecurity, deception technologies, or threat analysis, there’s a place for you here.

📫 Interested in joining or collaborating?
Stay tuned. You can reach out to us at [email protected].