A manufacturing company implemented IoT devices throughout their smart factory and needs a security solution...

In a smart factory environment, IoT devices often use specialized industrial protocols (like Modbus, PROFINET, or EtherNet/IP) and have limited built-in security. To meet the requirements of protecting these devices from network-based attacks while gaining visibility into communication patterns and detecting anomalies, anIPS/IDS (Intrusion Prevention/Detection System)is the most effective solution.

Modern Cisco Secure Firewall (NGFW) systems integrate advanced IPS/IDS capabilities that go beyond simple port-based filtering. They provide deep packet inspection (DPI) to identify specific IoT protocols and baseline "normal" behavior. When an IoT device suddenly begins communicating with an unknown external IP or attempts to use a command it has never used before, the IPS/IDS can trigger an alert or block the traffic as an anomaly.

While aZone-Based Firewall(Option A) or aTraditional Firewall(Option C) can segment traffic and control access between zones, they generally lack the granular visibility and behavior-based anomaly detection required for IoT security. ATransparent Firewall(Option B) is a deployment mode that makes the firewall "invisible" at Layer 2, which is useful for insertion into existing networks but does not inherently provide the required anomaly detection. Therefore, IPS/IDS is the primary technology within the Cisco Security Infrastructure that addresses the need for signature-based protection combined with behavioral visibility for specialized IoT traffic.

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