The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency has released its first detailed guide to designing and operating cyber decoys for critical infrastructure environments. The approach places realistic but controlled systems and information assets inside a network so that attempts to access them can generate high-confidence evidence of malicious activity.
CISA said decoys can help expose attackers who use stolen credentials, legitimate administration tools and living-off-the-land techniques that may bypass conventional perimeter controls. The guide aligns implementation with the MITRE ATT&CK knowledge base and MITRE Engage framework, and treats decoys as a complement to zero-trust controls rather than a replacement for asset management, identity security or monitoring.
The agency recommends planning decoys around likely adversary paths and high-value areas, then integrating the resulting alerts into established investigation and response procedures. Organizations must also prevent a decoy from becoming a pivot point and ensure its data does not create privacy or operational risk.
Why it matters
Critical infrastructure defenders often face weak signals from legitimate-looking activity. Properly isolated decoys can give operations teams an earlier, higher-confidence warning that an intruder is moving through the environment. That makes them relevant to the broader task of risk-based security planning.
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