So I’ll admit, I never used the Honey app before. I have purchased things online previously, but I never really used any type of best coupon finding service like Honey. I probably could have saved some serious money if I used one of them.
Personally I probably am not the savviest when it comes to online shopping, but I have improved. I have started to maximise cashback or rewards from online purchases. Many have probably watched MegaLag’s YouTube video or the follow-up videos by other YouTubers or general articles about PayPal Honey. I won’t go into details here because I will just be recycling information. I want to take this concept for fun and take a spin on it.
You probably came here because I used the word “honeypot” in the title of the article. Why did I use it?
First, we should understand a bit about honeypots.
Honeypot
The term honeypot refers to a specialised system embedded into a network for the purpose of tricking a malicious attacker into thinking they have successfully compromised the network. The honeypot system has the ability to isolate, monitor, block or analyse the malicious attacker’s actions taken when infiltrating to the system.
The honeypot system can be configured in such a way that it appears to be a legitimate part of the system and there are valuable information for the malicious attacker to gain. Honeypot systems are effective in tricking malicious attackers, but they can also be used as a passive tool to gain knowledge of the latest security threats. This allows security researchers a method to understand the latest exploits and threats for IT and OT devices we rely on each day.
Now let’s tie in this concept back to Honey. Everything I say below might sound absurd or crazy but hear me out.
The Setup
We, as consumers, act as a malicious attacker. We’re always looking for the best deals and cheapest prices. Honey acts as a honeypot to give us a solution for an easier way to find the best coupon deals on the website. Whether the coupon is the best one available at the time of purchase is up to the discretion of your take on the whole allegation. We have gained a discount of some sort. Or have we? That really is the question.
Whether Honey is a honeypot for coupons means we might not get the best deal. Instead, we give valuable consumer metrics to the service provider. This sounds similar to monitoring for malicious (coupon abusers) on the website. With any form of e-commerce cashback or referral programs you are currently using, websites need to track you. Failure to do so will nullify your rewards. The data collected from tracking your activity on an app or website gives powerful data.
One small event you created from a sale is harmless. An aggregation of many consumers paints trends and valuable statistics. This creates insightful consumer data companies can use to optimise their sales. In a honeypot sense, this is us as adversaries trying to reach the best deal by giving out our consumer behaviours to data-driven marketing and businesses.
A Greater Issue
This concept now no longer focuses solely on Honey only. E-commerce sites are increasingly using analytic tools to understand consumer behaviour. This informs the various consumer patterns one may take before purchasing a product or service. Even with affiliate links, the website will gain information about where you came from and the different decisions you take to reach a sale. More alarmingly, a new trend is emerging with the use of consumer metrics to set prices. It uses the supply and demand of products across different demographics and location.
As businesses operate to be profit driven, the ability to map out consumer data and sell it to other businesses so they can profit on data driven economics can mean we don’t get the best deals. Even if we try our best to limit our exposure to data collection practices, it is still inevitable we will be one way or another interacting with technology that harvests our data for big data analytics.