OT Network Monitoring
OT network monitoring is the continuous, passive observation of traffic on a control network to maintain an accurate asset inventory, detect anomalies and misconfigurations, and catch security events before they affect production. It is built around industrial protocols and around the rule that availability comes first.
Sensors observe a copy of traffic from switch mirror ports or network TAPs and inject nothing. Baselines are learned per zone: which controllers talk to which HMIs, over which protocols, at what cadence. A new talker, a new protocol, or a write command from an unexpected source becomes an alert.
Active discovery, querying devices in their own protocols, is used selectively where it is known to be safe, to fill gaps passive listening leaves.
Why it matters in cement, mining, and aggregates
Monitoring is most useful after inventory and segmentation exist, because alerts then map to a known topology and a defined zone. Deployed first on a flat, undocumented network it produces noise nobody can act on.