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43. IoT and OT Security – Cameras, Smart Devices, Plant Networks

43.8 Detection – Outbound IoT, Failed Logins, Protocol Oddities

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IDS chapter (42) tools apply. IoT/OT-specific crumbs:

  • Camera / sensor VLAN suddenly speaks to random WAN IPs (C2 / scan)
  • MQTT PUBLISH storms or anonymous connect spikes
  • Burst of failed logins on camera HTTP / RTSP
  • IT host opens 502/Modbus toward OT (policy violation)
  • New MAC on OT switch port
# Amazon Linux / Ubuntu lab – watch MQTT and firewall crumbs (OWN broker)
sudo yum install tcpdump   # Ubuntu: sudo apt install tcpdump
sudo tcpdump -ni eth1 host 192.168.56.50 and port 1883
# On broker host after hardening lab:
sudo tail -f /var/log/mosquitto/mosquitto.log
sudo firewall-cmd --set-log-denied=all
sudo tail -f /var/log/messages
Red team (attacker) does Blue team (defender) detects / stops
Infected cam scans LAN + phones home Egress deny/allow-list; Suricata on IoT span; SIEM rare-dest
Brute camera UI from Kali (lab) Log + lockout; alert on .10 → .50:80 bursts in lab
Idle Modbus recon from IT laptop Firewall deny + alert; ticketing for any OT allow

Ravindra Bagale's Tip

Students keep only inbound IDS rules. The Mirai lesson = outbound. Interview: "I alert when the IoT VLAN talks to destinations that are not NTP or the vendor update CDN." Got it?

Lab

Pseudo-rule on paper: IoT_VLAN → WAN && dest not in {ntp, vendor_cdn} → ticket. Pair: Amir generates allowed MQTT; Zoya watches tcpdump – confirm noise vs signal.

Extended teaching notes

Why this lesson matters

A SOC turns logs into action. Good juniors triage with playbooks: what fired, which asset, how bad, contain or escalate, write the timeline.

  1. Prepare: asset list, contacts, runbooks.
  2. Detect: SIEM/EDR alerts with context.
  3. Contain: disable account, isolate host, block IOC.
  4. Eradicate & recover: patch, rebuild, restore.
  5. Lessons: one improvement ticket per incident.

Indian company (sample)

A 24×7 SOC at a large Indian IT services firm handles phishing and malware for many clients. Tier-1 analysts follow a script; they do not freestyle on production.

Mini case study

Suppose we are on a purple-team exercise for an Indian mid-size company (sample data). Red notes a technique from this lesson against a lab clone. Blue must show the control that stops it, the log that would have fired, and the ticket that hardens production. That is the standard this course trains you for.

Defender's worksheet (do this today)

  1. Write the lesson title, date and the exact lab target you are allowed to use.
  2. List three owned systems (VMs, apps, or cloud accounts) where this lesson applies.
  3. Run one safe check from the lesson on a lab system only. Paste the command and output.
  4. Write a two-sentence fix you would give a teammate.
  5. Name one related public advisory (CERT-In, CISA, NVD, or a vendor bulletin) with its date.

Indian workplace (sample data)

Suppose we are a junior analyst at Infosys, TCS, Wipro or a fintech SOC in Bengaluru/Pune. Turn this lesson into one checklist item with an owner, a due date and a place to store evidence (ticket + screenshot).

Global practice

Compare your notes with OWASP, CIS Benchmarks, NIST CSF/IR guidance or a cloud Well-Architected security question. Write five lines on what overlaps.

Everyday analogy

Explain the risk and the fix to a family member without jargon. If they can repeat the warning, you understand it well enough to teach juniors.

Key terms

  • Control: a safeguard (patch, config, process, detection).
  • Finding: a weakness backed by evidence.
  • Remediation: the fix plus how you verified it.
  • Scope: systems you have written permission to touch.
  • Least privilege: only the access the task needs.
  • Defence in depth: several layers so one failure does not end the story.

Common mistakes

  • Skipping written permission "just for a quick scan".
  • Practising on hostel, office or public targets without authorisation.
  • Collecting tool output without writing the fix.
  • Copying attack steps onto production to "verify". Defenders verify with versions, configs and patches.
  • Publishing screenshots that contain secrets, cookies or internal hostnames.

Recap

  • Evidence, fix, owner, date.
  • Own lab only.
  • Fix > spectacle.