Chapter 58 Network Defense

At two o'clock the next afternoon, Li Xiao appeared punctually at the entrance of the Science and Technology Security Bureau's conference room.

This was her first time here. It was an unremarkable small gray building deep within the base, with no identification at the door, but entering and exiting required swiping three different access cards. Director Fang had sent her a message late last night, asking her to come for a meeting this afternoon. The content wasn't specified, but Li Xiao had guessed it—it must be about what happened last night.

Pushing open the door, five or six people were already seated inside.

Director Fang sat in the head seat and nodded to her. "You're here? Have a seat."

Li Xiao found a spot in the corner and sat down, quietly observing the others. Some were in uniform, some in plain clothes, and there were two young men who looked like technical staff, with open laptops on the table in front of them.

"Everyone is here," Director Fang began. "First, let's brief you on the situation."

A diagram lit up on the projection screen behind her; it was the scanning record of the IP Li Xiao had discovered last night.

"Late last night, the internal server of the Lithium-Sulfur Battery project team encountered a penetration attempt," Director Fang's voice was steady and powerful. "The discoverer was Comrade Li Xiao from the project team. She reported it immediately and assisted in completing the preliminary defense upgrades and information collection."

Everyone's gaze shifted simultaneously toward Li Xiao.

Li Xiao's face flushed instantly, and she subconsciously pulled back her neck.

"Based on the collected information," Director Fang continued, "the opponent used the Navicat database tool, the operating system was Windows 10 Pro, the keyboard layout was US English, and the time zone is presumed to be US Eastern. Judging by the combined techniques and rhythm, there is a high probability that this is a professional intelligence officer rather than an ordinary hacker."

She paused for a moment:

"We have reason to believe this is related to the organization behind the chef we caught previously—George's people have begun to move."

The conference room went quiet for a few seconds, then a middle-aged man sitting opposite Li Xiao spoke up:

"Is the target clear? Are they after the Lithium-Sulfur Battery data?"

"It appears so for now," Director Fang nodded. "They only scanned the database ports and had no interest in other servers. After the data for the Lithium-Sulfur Battery 1450 was made public, the international reaction was huge. People like George came sniffing around."

The middle-aged man pondered for a moment. "Can our defenses hold them off?"

Director Fang looked at the two young technical staff. "Xiao Zhou, Xiao Wu, please introduce the current defense situation."

One of the young men wearing glasses stood up, walked to the screen, and pulled up a network topology diagram.

"Currently, the Lithium-Sulfur Battery project team's servers are deployed on the base's internal network. The physical isolation is well-done, but for research needs, we've maintained limited external connections—such as access to literature databases and paper submission systems. These channels are protected by firewalls and intrusion detection systems, but yesterday's probing shows the opponent has already reached the perimeter."

He drew a circle on the diagram with a laser pointer:

"The port 3306 they scanned is closed to the outside, so they couldn't break through. But if our reaction is slow and we let them figure out the patterns, they might use more complex methods—such as penetration through phishing emails or third-party software vulnerabilities."

Li Xiao listened intently; she had only read about this knowledge in books before, and this was her first time hearing an explanation based on actual combat.

Xiao Zhou continued, "The current defense is passive, meaning we detect and block attacks. But the problem with passive defense is that we never know how much information the opponent has already acquired. Therefore, Director Fang's intention is to switch to active defense."

"Active defense?" Li Xiao couldn't help but ask out loud.

Xiao Zhou looked at her and nodded. "Yes. One way of active defense is to set up a honeypot."

He pulled up a new diagram showing a simulated server architecture.

"A honeypot, as the name suggests, is a trap disguised as a real system. We will build a fake server that looks identical to the real database, open some ports, and lure the attackers in. All their operations within the honeypot will be recorded, allowing us to analyze their methods, tools, and even identity information. Meanwhile, they waste time on a fake system while the real data remains secure."

Li Xiao's eyes lit up. "Like... leaving a fake safe for a thief?"

Xiao Zhou smiled. "Exactly, that's the idea."

Director Fang took over, "This honeypot needs people to cooperate in its construction. Xiao Zhou and Xiao Wu are responsible for the technical architecture, but we need someone familiar with the real database to assist—the data formats, directory structures, and access logic must be made to look real to deceive professional intelligence personnel."

She looked at Li Xiao. "That's why I called you here."

Li Xiao was stunned for a moment, then nodded vigorously. "I can do it!"

For the next two hours, Li Xiao experienced an unprecedented practical lesson.

Xiao Zhou and Xiao Wu first explained the basic principles of a honeypot: how to disguise service fingerprints, how to simulate normal data interactions, and how to record every step of the attacker's operations. Concepts she had only ever seen in papers now became tangible code and configurations.

"Pay attention here," Xiao Wu pointed at the screen. "A real MySQL database returns specific version information. We must simulate it exactly. The attacker's first step is fingerprint identification; if the version number doesn't match, the ruse is exposed immediately."

Li Xiao nodded, quickly taking notes in her notebook.

"And the format of the access logs," Xiao Zhou added. "Timestamps, connection IDs, query statements—they all must conform to MySQL's habits. A professional can spot a flaw at a glance."

The three of them huddled around the computer, building that 'fake safe' bit by bit.

Li Xiao was responsible for providing the directory structure and table naming rules of the real database, Xiao Zhou was in charge of configuring the server side, and Xiao Wu was responsible for writing scripts to simulate responses. The three heads were close together, occasionally debating and occasionally high-fiving, cooperating with unexpected chemistry.

"Should the table name be project_li_s_2025 or lithium_battery_v3?" Li Xiao asked.

"The latter is too deliberate," Xiao Zhou shook his head. "Real projects usually use abbreviations, like li_bat_2025. If it's too neat, it looks fake instead."

"Makes sense," Li Xiao nodded. "What about the field names? Should we use capacity, cycle_life, and so on?"

"Sure, but mix in some fields that look unimportant, like remark or temp_data. If it's too clean, it also won't look real."

Li Xiao suddenly realized—so there was a trick to faking things as well.

At five in the afternoon, the first version of the honeypot was completed.

Xiao Zhou started the simulation service, and Xiao Wu began testing from the perspective of an attacker.

"Scanning with nmap... port open, 3306, MySQL 5.7.33... fingerprint is fine." Xiao Wu stared at the screen. "Now attempting to connect... connected... database list... yes, li_bat_2025... table structure... hmm, almost identical to the real thing."

He turned around and gave Li Xiao a thumbs up:

"Not bad, Engineer Li. You made this directory structure look very real."

Li Xiao smiled bashfully. "It's just what I've seen Dr. Chen and the others do; I just memorized it."

Director Fang walked over, looked at the test results, and nodded:

"Good. We'll start deployment tonight. Xiao Zhou and Xiao Wu will be responsible for monitoring, and Li Xiao, you continue to watch for anomalies in the real database. Remember, a honeypot is a trap, but it's not omnipotent. The real line of defense is still your daily protection awareness."

Li Xiao nodded forcefully. "Understood!"

At seven in the evening, Li Xiao returned to the laboratory.

Chen Xueming and Zhang Zhe were still there, discussing something. Seeing her enter, Chen Xueming looked up. "Haven't seen you all afternoon. Where did you go?"

Li Xiao froze for a moment, remembering Director Fang's instruction—not to spread this for now; except for Lin Mo, no one else should know the details. She said vaguely, "Director Fang had some training over there and sent me to learn a bit."

Chen Xueming didn't think much of it, nodded, and continued looking at the data.

Li Xiao sat back at her workstation and opened her computer. The monitoring program was still running quietly, everything normal. She glanced at that small icon, a complex emotion rising in her heart.

She used to think that research protection was like what Uncle Zhao did—patrolling, standing guard, and escorting samples. It wasn't until today that she understood there was another front, invisible and intangible, yet equally dangerous.

That data, the painstaking effort they put in by staying up late, was just a string of stealable code in the eyes of others.

She took a deep breath and opened the monitoring interface for the honeypot. Xiao Zhou and the others had already given her access, allowing her to see the situation inside the honeypot in real-time.

Everything was calm in the honeypot for now.

But who knew? Perhaps at two in the morning, that IP would come crashing in.

After eight o'clock, Lin Mo returned from outside.

He saw Li Xiao was still there, walked over, and asked softly, "How was this afternoon?"

Li Xiao knew what he was asking about. She lowered her voice and briefly recounted the afternoon's events. After listening, Lin Mo nodded:

"Learned a lot of things, didn't you?"

"Yes!" Li Xiao's eyes were bright. "Teacher Lin, I didn't know network defense was so complex before. That honeypot was made to look exactly like the real thing; even I would have to look for a long time to tell the difference."

Lin Mo smiled. "You'll understand later that in this field of research, it's never just pure research. The more important the things you study, the more people will be watching you."

He looked at Li Xiao and said seriously:

"So protecting yourself and protecting the data is just as important as doing good research."

Li Xiao nodded, a sense of responsibility rising within her.

Lin Mo turned to leave, then stopped and looked back to add:

"By the way, don't tell Dr. Chen and the others about today's matter yet. It's not a lack of trust, but I'm afraid it might affect their focus. Once there's progress on Director Fang's side, we'll sync up with them."

"Understood!"

After Lin Mo left, Li Xiao continued to stare at the screen.

In the laboratory, Chen Xueming and Zhang Zhe were still discussing the formula for E-Li-2. Professional terms floated into her ears—"additive concentration," "ionic conductivity," "SEI film stability"—she used to hear these as if they were gibberish, but now she could slowly understand a bit of it.

These people were researching how to make batteries better.

And she was researching how to prevent that research from being stolen.

She suddenly felt that her own work was quite important too.

At ten at night, Chen Xueming and Zhang Zhe finally left.

Li Xiao should have left too, but she thought about it and decided to stay a bit longer.

She opened the honeypot's monitoring interface and watched the jumping data stream. Xiao Zhou and the others were monitoring it in real-time in the background, but she also wanted to see with her own eyes if that IP would come tonight.

Eleven o'clock, no movement.

Twelve o'clock, no movement.

One in the morning, still nothing.

Li Xiao let out a yawn and rubbed her eyes, preparing to turn off the computer and go back to sleep.

Suddenly, a notification popped up on the monitoring interface:

honeypot Connection: IP 45.143.22.xxx is accessing port 3306

Li Xiao's sleepiness vanished instantly.

She stared at the screen, watching that familiar IP, her heart starting to race.

The same rhythm as last night—scan the port first, find it open, then attempt to connect. This time, the honeypot let it connect.

Detailed records began to scroll across the screen:

2025-07-24 01:23:47 | Connection established

01:23:52 | Executing query: SHOW DATABASES

01:23:58 | Executing query: USE li_bat_2025

01:24:05 | Executing query: SHOW TABLES

01:24:12 | Executing query: SELECT * FROM cell_data LIMIT 10

Each query was like an invisible hand rummaging through the honeypot.

Li Xiao held her breath, watching those records.

That person might be sitting in some room on the other side of the ocean right now, staring at a screen, thinking they had finally found what they wanted. Little did they know, every "file" they flipped through was a trap they had meticulously laid.

01:35:22 | Connection disconnected

Five minutes later, that IP disappeared.

Li Xiao leaned back in her chair and let out a long breath.

She looked at that long list of records on the screen and suddenly remembered what Director Fang said this afternoon:

"A honeypot is a trap, but it's not omnipotent. The real line of defense is still your daily protection awareness."

She nodded silently.

Then she opened her chat software and sent today's records to Xiao Zhou, attaching a sentence:

"He came, he took the bait."

Xiao Zhou replied instantly:

"Saw it. Nicely done."

Li Xiao stared at those two words, a smile appearing at the corner of her mouth.

Outside, the night was deep. Most of the lights in the distant laboratory building had been extinguished, with only a few windows still lit—perhaps it was Chen Xueming and the others staying up late, or perhaps someone else.

She stood up, packed her things, and prepared to head back.

Walking to the door, she looked back at her computer.

On the screen, that monitoring program was still running quietly, like a tiny sentry guarding that data.

She smiled softly, closed the door, and walked into the night.

Early the next morning, Director Fang sent a message:

"The information captured by the honeypot is very valuable. The opponent has already downloaded a batch of fake data, and we've embedded tracking code. Next is following the clues. Keep watching; report any situation immediately."

Li Xiao looked at that message, a sense of accomplishment she couldn't quite describe rising in her heart.

She wasn't a researcher or an expert; she was just an assistant who wrote code.

But now, she was also one of the guardians of this team.

She opened her computer and began a new day's work.