Can you deceive a deceiver? That’s the question that computer scientists at Binghamton University, State University of New York have recently been exploring.

Assistant Professor of Computer Science Guanhua Yan and PhD student Zhan Shu are looking at how to make cyber deception a more effective tool against malicious hackers.

Their study was inspired by the 2013 Target data breach that affected 41 million consumers and cost Target $18.5 million, and the 2017 Equifax hack which exposed the personal information of 147.7 million Americans. Both of these were what can be classified as Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs).