Drones: Benefits and Risks in [2022]

Drones: Benefits and Risks

The commercial use of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), more commonly known as drones, has exploded over the last few years, and it’s clearly on a trajectory to continue. Its global market is currently worth $2 billion, and that number is estimated to skyrocket to $127 billion in 2020. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) predicts that commercial drones will rise to more than 420,000 units by 2021, from 80,000 registered units in August 2017.

Drone Benefits:

There are many ways in which drones can help enterprise security teams more efficiently, safely, and cost-effectively manage their risk reduction efforts, including:

Risk assessments: Enterprise security staff may use drones to detect holes and weaknesses that, thanks to a particular point of view, would not usually be seen, says James A. Acevedo, Star River Incorporated President. He says   “Instead of seeing things in a 2D frame, you see things in a 3D frame, which really changes the dynamic of how your security countermeasures are positioned,”

Perimeter monitoring and other circumstances for security officers: Drones can help track perimeters, parking lots, jails, college campuses, stadiums, and other outdoor locations. Using a thermal imaging sensor also allows for this at night.

Inspections: Security teams may now use drones to inspect and monitor roofs and other high places from the ground.

Executive security:  Acevedo states”If you have an executive protection team operating in remote locations, they may be able to use a drone to advance route observation and identify any potential problems that are en route while driving around their primaries,”

Securing remote assets: Drones are a perfect way to look out for poachers or predators if you are trying to protect hundreds of acres of land or livestock in the pasture. In remote areas, they will inspect the equipment, pipelines, wind turbines, and other facilities.

Safety: Usually, a drone can get to a jail battle, an attacker, and other possible issues quicker than an officer can and evaluate the danger so that staff knows how to respond better. Drones also can interpret images and listen to gunshots, explosions, and the like using audio and video sensors, says Ryan Hendricks, Dronusphere’s managing partner. He further states, “They can distinguish between gunfire and explosions so that they can call the police or report to someone that, for example, there has been an explosion at a power plant.”

Emergency relief: The FAA has approved hundreds of drones to respond to Hurricanes Harvey, Maria, and Irma, assessing damage and identifying people who need assistance. They have been used in southern California fires as well as to collect data for emergency response treatment already. These instruments are used for security monitoring and sensing, from video to audio to infrared. They are also being used to locate individuals inside collapsed buildings or victims of earthquakes, he notes.

Cost savings: Deploying drones will mean major cost savings for many businesses, Hendricks states. Hendricks says, for example, if you want to control a power center or operational center, “without drones, you use everything from full-time security officers to cameras, and, of course, fencing, and maybe even helicopters if there’s a problem.” Drones can be set up to continuously track the property overnight. You can charge yourself with three spinning drones, make a run around the perimeter and then hand it over to the next drone. In almost every industry, you will find drone applications that save money, or that allow you to do stuff you couldn’t do otherwise.

Drone RISKS:

All these potential advantages and benefits, particularly when it comes to the complexities of enterprise security, do not come without their share of risks and challenges. Some of these include:

Data theft: This is a big problem, especially with the recent news that famous drone manufacturer D.J.I. might be sending sensitive data to China from its U.S. drones, Acevedo says. “Thousands of these drones are flying across the U.S., being used in a variety of different landscapes, and all that data gives China access to information that it would normally never be able to access,” he says. Drones are also just as susceptible to hackers and security bugs, if they are in flight or not, as every other Internet of Things (IoT) system is.

Loss of power:  According to the  “Rise of the Drones” This can occur either by someone hacking and taking control of the drone or through a malfunction of the device or frequency interference. As these events, and related accidents, have already occurred, AGCS predicts that frequency interference would be a major concern. The possibility is also there for a hacker to use the drone for malicious acts.

Collisions: Possible collisions with airplanes are probably the greatest safety hazard from drones. And birds can take down drones, but the drone is not so easily chewed up by the engine, unlike a bird,” says Hendricks.” “These drones can take down a passenger plane because of the hardened materials on many of them and the speed at which they move.” The most at-risk aircraft are those that fly below 500 feet, such as helicopters, agricultural aircraft, and any aircraft that take off or land says AGCS.

Small battery power: Hendricks says, “Most of your commercial drones can fly for 30 minutes and that’s about it.” They are creating charging stations where the drone can essentially sit down and charge itself and take off again at a charging point. There’s a whole market of charger construction firms.

Untrained pilots: “In order to meet demand right now, there are not enough trained drone operators,” says Hendricks. Additionally, to fly a commercial drone, as well as pass Transportation Security Administration (TSA) vetting, you must be accredited by the FAA. “A lot of people tend to just go out and buy a drone and think they’re able to fly it,” says Acevedo.

Expectations: Business security leaders might want to hop on the drone bandwagon because it’s fresh, hot technology, but as well as its drawbacks, it’s important to know what you’re getting, says Acevedo. You have to be very careful because this technology is so new, and you need to have some extreme, reasonable standards as to what you are going to achieve. Often you think something very cool can be achieved by a drone, and finally, it won’t give you the data you need,’ he says.