When was the last time you checked what was actually happening inside your local network? After losing my Pwnagotchi on a bus somewhere (doing its own business, I’m sure), I decided it was time to deploy a Netgotchi.
What is a Netgotchi?#
I haven’t paid my LAN any real attention for at least four years. Since my Pwnagotchi is gone, why not try something new?
Unlike other devices, a Netgotchi sits in your LAN and just listens. And it seems to listen a lot—which is a rare occasion for network devices these days.
Why would you go through the trouble of installing this little thingamajig?
Well, think about it: almost every smart device in your house is constantly listening and calling home to the internet. But you, the network owner, are rarely listening to what they are doing. Netgotchi flips that dynamic.
The Neighborhood Honeypot Experiment#
Mostly, it just seemed like a fun weekend activity.
To make things interesting, I am trying to hook up my neighbor’s public Plex server (I have no clue why or how they configured it to be wide open to the world) to act as a localized honeypot. It might be something we laugh about in the future… who knows!
What’s on your LAN?#
Are you monitoring your local network traffic, or do you just trust your router’s default settings? Let’s discuss network security setups in the comments below!