User-customized deceptions and their deployment in networks

A system for generating and deploying custom deceptions for a network, comprising:

• an administrator computer for generating custom deception entities (CDEs), each CDE comprising parameters including inter alia (i) a type of entity, (ii) conditions for deployment of the CDE, and (iii) a deception type;
• and
• a management server, comprising:
• an application programming interface (API) for use by said administrator computer to generate CDEs through a medium of a formal language for specifying deceptions, the formal language comprising keyword placeholders for servers, usernames and passwords;
• and
• a translator for translating formal language CDEs to deceptions that are installable in network endpoint computers, comprising replacing the keyword placeholders for servers, usernames and passwords with actual server names, usernames and passwords,
• wherein said management computer receives a request from a network endpoint computer to retrieve CDEs, selects CDEs that are relevant to the requesting network endpoint computer based on the parameters of the CDE, translates the selected CDEs to installable deceptions, and transmits the installable deceptions to the network endpoint computer for installation thereon.