The Protocols Your Firewall Doesn't Understand
Your firewall understands HTTP, DNS, and TLS. Your IDS knows what a SQL injection looks like. But when a Modbus TCP packet carries a malicious write-multiple-registers command to your PLC, or an MQTT message publishes a firmware update to your IoT fleet, your existing security tools see normal TCP traffic and move on.
This protocol blindness is the core IoT/OT security problem. Attackers exploit it constantly. Nation-state groups target industrial control systems specifically because the monitoring gap means they can operate undetected for months.
Protocol-Aware Security Monitoring
1-SEC's IoT & OT Shield understands the protocols that traditional tools don't.
MQTT Monitoring
MQTT is the backbone of most IoT deployments — smart home devices, industrial sensors, fleet management systems. 1-SEC monitors MQTT traffic for unauthorized topic subscriptions, unexpected publish patterns, and payload anomalies. A device that normally publishes temperature readings every 60 seconds suddenly publishing firmware commands is an immediate red flag.
Modbus and Industrial Protocol Security
Modbus TCP has zero built-in authentication or encryption. Any device on the network can read or write any register on any PLC. 1-SEC monitors Modbus traffic for write commands to registers that should be read-only, function codes that indicate reconnaissance (read device identification), and traffic from unauthorized source IPs.
CoAP and Lightweight Protocol Support
Constrained Application Protocol (CoAP) is used by resource-limited IoT devices. 1-SEC monitors CoAP traffic for unauthorized resource access, replay attacks, and anomalous request patterns that indicate device compromise or network reconnaissance.
Device Fingerprinting
Every IoT device has a traffic fingerprint — characteristic packet sizes, timing patterns, and protocol usage. 1-SEC builds a baseline of normal device behavior and alerts when a device deviates. A smart thermostat that starts making DNS queries to domains in Eastern Europe has been compromised, and the fingerprint deviation catches it.
Default Credentials and Firmware Integrity
An embarrassing percentage of IoT devices in production still run default credentials. Admin/admin, root/root, or manufacturer-specific defaults that are published in every device manual on the internet. 1-SEC scans for authentication attempts using known default credentials and flags devices that haven't been hardened.
Firmware integrity monitoring verifies that device firmware matches known-good baselines. Modified firmware can persist through reboots, survive factory resets, and provide persistent backdoor access. The IoT Shield alerts on firmware changes that weren't initiated through your authorized update process.
Deploying 1-SEC in IoT/OT Environments
1-SEC runs on the gateway or management server that sits between your IoT/OT network and your corporate network. It doesn't need to be installed on individual devices — it monitors network traffic at the aggregation point.
For Home Assistant users: run 1-SEC on the same machine as your HA instance. It monitors all the MQTT traffic, Zigbee-to-MQTT bridge communications, and API calls that your smart home generates.
For industrial environments: deploy 1-SEC on the historian server or the SCADA gateway. It monitors Modbus, DNP3, and other industrial protocol traffic without requiring changes to your PLCs or RTUs.
The single-binary deployment means no dependencies to install in sensitive OT environments. No Python, no Java, no containers. Just one executable that runs and monitors.