Powered by OpenAIRE graph
Found an issue? Give us feedback
image/svg+xml art designer at PLoS, modified by Wikipedia users Nina, Beao, JakobVoss, and AnonMoos Open Access logo, converted into svg, designed by PLoS. This version with transparent background. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Open_Access_logo_PLoS_white.svg art designer at PLoS, modified by Wikipedia users Nina, Beao, JakobVoss, and AnonMoos http://www.plos.org/ ZENODOarrow_drop_down
image/svg+xml art designer at PLoS, modified by Wikipedia users Nina, Beao, JakobVoss, and AnonMoos Open Access logo, converted into svg, designed by PLoS. This version with transparent background. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Open_Access_logo_PLoS_white.svg art designer at PLoS, modified by Wikipedia users Nina, Beao, JakobVoss, and AnonMoos http://www.plos.org/
ZENODO
Dataset . 2026
License: CC BY
Data sources: ZENODO
image/svg+xml art designer at PLoS, modified by Wikipedia users Nina, Beao, JakobVoss, and AnonMoos Open Access logo, converted into svg, designed by PLoS. This version with transparent background. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Open_Access_logo_PLoS_white.svg art designer at PLoS, modified by Wikipedia users Nina, Beao, JakobVoss, and AnonMoos http://www.plos.org/
ZENODO
Dataset . 2026
License: CC BY
Data sources: ZENODO
image/svg+xml art designer at PLoS, modified by Wikipedia users Nina, Beao, JakobVoss, and AnonMoos Open Access logo, converted into svg, designed by PLoS. This version with transparent background. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Open_Access_logo_PLoS_white.svg art designer at PLoS, modified by Wikipedia users Nina, Beao, JakobVoss, and AnonMoos http://www.plos.org/
ZENODO
Dataset . 2026
License: CC BY
Data sources: ZENODO
ZENODO
Dataset . 2026
License: CC BY
Data sources: Datacite
ZENODO
Dataset . 2026
License: CC BY
Data sources: Datacite
ZENODO
Dataset . 2026
License: CC BY
Data sources: Datacite
ZENODO
Dataset . 2026
License: CC BY
Data sources: Datacite
versions View all 4 versions
addClaim

A 4-Month Dataset of SSH Botnet Interactions and Command Payloads

Authors: Boiko, Viktor; Niiakyi, Oleksandr;

A 4-Month Dataset of SSH Botnet Interactions and Command Payloads

Abstract

Overview This dataset contains 145,425 security events collected by a custom multi-threaded SSH Honeypot. The data reflects real-world automated and manual attack patterns against Linux-based systems, captured over a focused 4-month observation window from July 27, 2025, to November 14, 2025. Research Context The collection was conducted as part of the research project 'High-Interaction SSH Threat Intelligence & Attack Modeling' at the National University 'Odesa Law Academy'. Revision History (v2.1 Update) Version 2.2 (May 2026): Supplemental Metadata Release. Added geospatial_attack_distribution.csv featuring geolocation and organizational data (via ipinfo.io) for all unique IPs in the dataset. No changes were made to the core traffic logs from v2.1. Version 2.1 (April 2026): Final validated release. Logging Level Inversion: Physically updated the level column. INFO now represents transport-layer noise (94.6%), while WARNING marks active application-layer interactions (5.4%). Metadata Synchronization: All documentation and BibTeX records are updated to reflect the refined 4-month data window and final event counts. Version 2.0: Conducted thorough data sanitization, excluding 74 internal administrative sessions (localhost) and debugging logs from the initial setup phase. Version 1.0: Initial raw release. Technical Specifications Engine: Multi-threaded Python 3.10 application using the Paramiko library. Core Logic: Handles SSHv2 transport and authentication layers by subclassing paramiko.ServerInterface. Session Management: Incoming connections are encapsulated in individual threads, where each session is assigned a unique UUID for full "kill chain" reconstruction. Payload Interception: Command requests are intercepted via the check_channel_exec_request method, allowing for the capture of raw payloads (including malware droppers and fileless /dev/tcp strings) without executing them on the host system. Persistence: Data is saved to a SQLite 3 database in real-time using a synchronous write-ahead logging (WAL) approach. Key Research Findings (v2.1) Attack Intensity: Analysis shows peak intensities exceeding 10,700 interactions per hour during automated surge events. Payload Diversity: The dataset captures 28 unique interactive shell sessions, including sophisticated fileless exploitation via bash sockets. Credential Intelligence: Records 2,109 unique credential pairs, providing insights into modern automated brute-force patterns. High-Fidelity Noise Reduction: The pre-filtered level field allows researchers to immediately isolate the 5.4% of high-value attack payloads from background connection noise. Data Structure The dataset is provided in SQLite3 (.db) and CSV formats. Fields: id, timestamp, session_id, ip, port, event_type, message, command, level. Authors & Affiliation Viktor Boiko (ORCID: 0000-0001-5929-657X) — Scientific Supervisor & Lead Researcher. Oleksandr Niiakyi (ORCID: 0009-0005-1025-1617) — Software Developer & Researcher. Affiliation: Faculty of Cybersecurity and Information Technologies, National University "Odesa Law Academy". Licensing Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0).

Related Organizations
Keywords

Threat Intelligence, Cybersecurity, Open Data, SSH Honeypot, Botnet Analysis, Intrusion Detection

  • BIP!
    Impact byBIP!
    selected citations
    These citations are derived from selected sources.
    This is an alternative to the "Influence" indicator, which also reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically).
    0
    popularity
    This indicator reflects the "current" impact/attention (the "hype") of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network.
    Average
    influence
    This indicator reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically).
    Average
    impulse
    This indicator reflects the initial momentum of an article directly after its publication, based on the underlying citation network.
    Average
Powered by OpenAIRE graph
Found an issue? Give us feedback
selected citations
These citations are derived from selected sources.
This is an alternative to the "Influence" indicator, which also reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically).
BIP!Citations provided by BIP!
popularity
This indicator reflects the "current" impact/attention (the "hype") of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network.
BIP!Popularity provided by BIP!
influence
This indicator reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically).
BIP!Influence provided by BIP!
impulse
This indicator reflects the initial momentum of an article directly after its publication, based on the underlying citation network.
BIP!Impulse provided by BIP!
0
Average
Average
Average