hare on LinkedIn
As I hang my three lamps in the old North-Church-Tower to send a signal.
With each day that passes technology keeps inching forward becoming smarter, smaller, faster and more interconnected. In addition to the cost for these technologies also continues to drop. These same technologies are what is fueling the spontaneous growth and popularity of Unmanned Systems along with the simplicity of their use.
Recently a think tank out of the United Kingdom put pen to paper and produced an informative report. The think tank has articulated everything our team and I have been talking about, posting and presenting for the last three years. However, they primarily focused on commercially available systems and they seemed to lack imagination.
It has been said that the... Attacks on September 11, 2001 was “A Failure of Imagination"…
Anyone who has attended one of our presentations knows we never lacked “imagination” – or perhaps, more accurately “vision!”
![](https://media.licdn.com/mpr/mpr/shrinknp_800_800/AAEAAQAAAAAAAARlAAAAJDg5OWJjMWI1LTlkODEtNDlhNC05YzkxLThmNWM1MmE4YTNmYw.png)
ASIS International 60th Annual Seminar "The Emerging Security Threat from Unmanned Vehicles"
It seems that the masses still have not truly grasped the threat as it should be perceived. Although there are various concerns with regard to the use of commercially available systems ie: privacy, safety and security. These systems do have “limitations” for example batteries, payload, signals and human error…or do they?
Let’s eliminate the human error and the signals now what do you have? A flying autonomous robot!
Using one of the many mission control systems you can pre-program your system to fly completely autonomously from any operating systems, platform and network. You cannot tell me you have not seen some of those really cool videos from the TED talks (technology, entertainment and design) showing flying robot doing amazing things. Or even seen the Guinness Book of World Record of 100 unmanned aerial vehicles taking flight in pre-programmed formation, offering onlookers an impressive light show synchronized to the sounds of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony. If we do not have signals going to the unmanned aerial vehicles or robots how do you stop a group of autonomous unmanned systems?
![](https://media.licdn.com/mpr/mpr/shrinknp_800_800/AAEAAQAAAAAAAAQ8AAAAJDE2NzRiNjgyLWY2YzYtNDA3Yy1hYThjLTMwYWZlZmIwYTkzYQ.jpg)
Guinness Book of World Record of 100 unmanned aerial vehicles.
One part of the equation that has not been considered yet is the Internet of Things (IoT).
“The Internet of Things (IoT) is the network of physical objects—devices, vehicles, buildings and other items embedded with electronics, software, sensors, and network connectivity—that enables these objects to collect and exchange data.” Wikipedia
With mass interconnection and using current technologies you can program a system to fly a mission in the most unconventional matter. Imagine a drone or group of drones using other drones, WiFi, cellular even traditional navigation methods (like a real plane does) to fly to anywhere in a city.
How can you “manage” that if the intentions are to do damage or harm?
Hackers have made claims they can hijack a system and I am sure they can. So how are we supposed to protect ourselves? Not only is the threat a potential terrorist attack. If we stop there we are not using our imaginations.
So let us imagine a swarm of flying and/or driving robots zipping through a city loaded with sensors collecting massive amounts of information, sipping email packets, cell phone communications, etc. The use of unmanned systems for business espionage was something our group “imagined” and articulated. It is even mentioned in a book written by one of our team and called “Business Espionage: Risks, Threats and Countermeasures.”
Today the largest threat to people and businesses is the internet and/or mass interconnection. Part of the reason that threat is so large is that we are now more connected than ever. Your home communicates with the refrigerator sends you a message when its low on milk. Our thermostats send us messages, or cars talk to each other, our watches tell us we need to exercise and our phones manage everything else including the aforementioned. All these things allow additional opportunities for a breach of our lives and/or information. As I sit in my home office I hear the Roomba hitting the wall in the living room and the kids are programming Dash and Dot to chase the dog around the house using a tablet.
As we push forward and technology continues to evolve as well as interconnection we need to use our imaginations. I am not trying to be a fear monger.
I am trying to be realistic and ahead of the threats rather than a knee-jerk reactor.
As I have said in the past I equate the Drone Revolution to the creation of the internet. No one wanted to also imagine and address how dangerous the internet would have become. Now we are at the IoT networks of physical objects devices, vehicles, buildings and other items embedded with electronics, software, sensors and connectivity.
Our future has everything we interact with talking to each other. Telecoms will be using fixed wing systems to increase coverage in rural and high traffic areas. Emergency responders will be using systems to create situational awareness during the recovery after some nature disasters. Law Enforcement, critical infrastructure and private security are using systems to patrol community's.
There can be a price to pay for all this convenience. However, if we are not imaginative and thinking ahead, we will not know until it’s too late. As a society and/or security professional we seem to be missing the mark with regard to this issue and continue to hear, speak or see no evil.
THE KEYS TO HAVING EFFECTIVE SECURITY IS DETERRENCE, DETECTION, DELAY AND RESPONSE.
Now if you apply this premise to the current issue we are talking about then I think you will quickly realize we may have a small problem! With regard to countermeasures you have regulatory, passive and active. However, you must keep in mind that no single countermeasure is completely effective at limiting the use of a hostile system. Everyday someone is claiming to have the next solution for countering this threat. Unfortunately, after some real-world testing they seem to all seem fall a bit short…because this is a complex, ever-evolving threat that requires a complex, ever-evolving solution. Not just birds, nets and bazookas.
![](https://media.licdn.com/mpr/mpr/shrinknp_800_800/AAEAAQAAAAAAAAZFAAAAJDUyZDRjYjdkLTBjNTAtNGQ1Ny05YmQyLTk5MWM1ZDY0YTM4MQ.png)
A machine is ambivalent with regard to inherent qualities in technology. The question “is technology inherently evil or is the question a matter of how it is exploited and distorted in contemporary society?”
It seems that again here we are with a problem and no solution. Now we find ourselves scrambling to try, find or invent a solution for the problem. Time and time again we create something and never think of the “well what if”.
Some call this the law of unintended consequences.
A few years ago we started a small synergistic group of Security, Engineering and Manufacturing Professionals working together to evaluate how Unmanned Systems and/or Automation can and will impact security in the future.
We have become a group of Security, Law Enforcement, Engineering, Manufacturing, Counterespionage, Logistics and Energy Professionals who have concentrated on calculating and understanding how Unmanned Systems and/or Automation will impact security.
Our team and engineers have been analyzing, testing and co-development various detection, response technologies and systems, however, remember what I said earlier no single countermeasure is completely effective at limiting the use of a hostile system. So, with that in mind, we ask: how will you protect that which is important to you?
For a moment lets overlook the guns, explosives, flamethrowers, chainsaws and other “wonderful” things that can wreak havoc while also providing value in their respective roles. Because thanks to the wonderful world wide web I can now build a Custom Unmanned Aerial System, pre-program that system to fly an autonomous route and utilizing a raspberry pie with Wi-FI create a completely secure network land on your building enable a Wi-Fi hotspot and well I’m sure you know the rest... but wait there’s more, how about instead of Wi-Fi, I enable Bluetooth and record all those wonderful key strokes off all the wireless keyboards people love to use. Awwwwww heck let’s do both!
And that's me just getting warmed up....
I recently created a LinkedIn Group called,
Unmanned Autonomous Systems Countermeasures
The objective for this Group is to provide a line of communication between developers and end-users. We welcome anyone who has an idea for a law, system, concept, product, tactic, technology or mechanism. Unmanned Autonomous Systems countermeasures can be Regulatory, Passive or Active. Through our group we can help create comprehensive solutions for a complex issue and potentially reduce the overall security risk for everyone.