It's a lot like bike locks.

Yes, most people can grab some bolt cutters, snip, and bike off. Yet, so many bikes remain unstolen with extremely week locks.

The vast majority of attacks are crimes of opportunity. Hackers aren't generally trying to target a single company or computer for a bot net, they are looking to get as many as possible. Almost any amount of effort above and beyond the typical will cause them to jump past you as a target.

Back to the bike lock analogy. Again, most locks can be bypassed, getting one that requires an edge grinder will almost certainly ensure that your bike won't be stolen (Why steal that bike when there are 20 with simple wire locks?). Add 2 locks and you've got a bike that will almost never be knicked.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPDHPpnXPv8

This video can teach you a LOT about software security.

> Wasting an attackers time is a fine goal. reply

This. Putting a tarpit on port 22 isn't going to stop an attacker, but it will slow the ssh scans down for everyone.

https://github.com/skeeto/endlessh

Honeypots are fun, but be VERY careful how you deploy them. Ideally they are on a completely separate network on the WAN side of a second firewall. The last thing you want is for someone to find an exploit in your honeypot and use that to gain access to your network.