Today, off-the-shelf commercial drone technology poses a significant threat to governments, corporations and the public. While the positive use cases for deploying commercial drones are many, like all technologies, drones have a dark side that security professionals must prepare for.
The U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has launched a new prize competition to advance the use of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) in first responder search and rescue operations.
With no one size fits all solution, there have always been different ways to tackle the plethora of security threats. However, the increasing use of drones, or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) as they are often called, is changing that. Fully automated drones can be operated by security agents, with no pilot certification, and are directly integrated into existing security networks and processes. But aren’t they expensive? And won’t the technology turn out to be just a passing trend?
For years, there has been optimistic talk that drones – the popular name for UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) – would become ubiquitous and used for security purposes. And now, it’s happening. The drone-industry is becoming an increasingly promising technology-intensive industry, one that will employ far more workers than it does today while enhancing the efficiency and security of a variety of businesses.
U.S. Secretary of Transportation Elaine L. Chao announced the three-year Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Integration Pilot Program (IPP) successfully concluded on Oct. 25. Eight of the nine state, local and tribal governments that participated in the program have signed new agreements with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to continue to tackle remaining UAS integration challenges.
The Department of Justice (DOJ), the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) issued an advisory guidance document to help non-federal public and private entities better understand the federal laws and regulations that may apply to the use of capabilities to detect and mitigate threats posed by Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) operations.
The TSA wants to give air marshals the power to use Defense Department equipment to shoot down drones near airports, two congressmen said, seeking to tackle drones that can disrupt airport operations.
