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Drone near miss comment

by Mark Rowe

Last month’s near miss between an Airbus A320 on its Heathrow approach and a drone was much publicised. It led to calls for airports to better protect themselves around the growing menace – malicious or through sheer poor piloting – of such threats.

The May 2016 print issue of Professional Security magazine features drones, both as potential tools by security people, and as a threat to be mitigated. We report from the Gadget Show Live (pictured), the BAPCO annual conference of public sector communications managers, and our own Security TWENTY 16 conference-exhibition at Dublin in April.

Police chiefs reportedly are even considering using military-strength ‘death rays’ to shut down any drones which fly – intentionally or otherwise – into restricted air space; although that would still beg the question, of what damage the drones might do if destroyed in the air and debris falls to the ground; and whether a drone sent for terrorism purposes could be stopped from doing damage in urban areas.

Comment

Colin Bull, Principal Consultant Manufacturing and Product Development at SQS, said: “Whilst a fun novelty for the modern consumer, drones must be embraced and feared in equal measures. Putting it bluntly, these devices are in fact a flying payload system with the ability to deliver anything (including incendiary devices or grenades) in to uncontrolled airspace in the way that only Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV’s) have been able to do in the past.

“Implementing regulation and the standardisation of radio frequencies on which drones can operate is vital. Ultimately, this makes it easier for security teams to use jamming devices to stop a suspect drone from entering the space. Ensuring there are strict regulations in place means that the use of drones can be better controlled.

“As with any connected technology, drones are at risk of being hacked by cybercriminals, meaning software programming needs to be considered more seriously in the development phase. Implementing the expertise of quality assurance specialists can help to plug any potential loopholes otherwise exploited by unscrupulous hackers and limit security risks. It is time that strict and overarching regulations were put in place to help control drone use, and that system developers consider security and privacy in the lifecycle before a disaster happens.”

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