Deutsche Telekom and Intel Security are collaborating on research to develop a rapid alert system for cyber-attacks.

The alliance will focus on digital ‘Honey Pots’. These are dummy computers pretending to be vulnerable PCs, servers and smartphones, which are designed to be attacked in order to detect cyber threats.

The two partners will expand Deutsche Telekom’s incubator test system by adding new sensors, while researching how to develop new Honey Pots for the commercial market. Customers could then integrate these sensors into compute devices to alert customers faster and help them to upgrade their systems.

Deutsche Telekom claims to identify up to 600,000 attacks daily through its sensor network, while Intel Security sensors record distributed attacks and scan the web for exploits.

"Our aim is to develop the honey pot technology into a cyber-security sensor, that can be integrated into every connected device. Intel Security is the ideal partner to help us fulfill this vision," said Thomas Tschersich, Director of IT and physical security at Deutsche Telekom.

"The more threat intelligence we can gather without real organizations having to sustain cyber-attacks, the greater our collective ability to learn, anticipate and take action when real organizations must confront such attacks," said Vincent Weafer, senior vice president, Intel Security’s McAfee Labs.

Weafer adds: "This Honey Pot project is unique in that it leverages the global network presence of Deutsche Telekom and the global threat intelligence and research expertise of Intel Security, raising the bar on size and scope for such operations."