Category: Feature

Businesses are reopening and employees are returning to work. Managing protection for workers, customers, and visitors with the lingering effects of COVID-19 poses challenges in the business world.     To cope with these challenges, it is crucial for businesses to maximize protection while operating their access control systems effectively. This requires safer and faster temperature screenings, controlling access, and recording attendance, as well as visitor management. Touchfree access control systems with a temperature screening function creates an especially effective solution. For this reason, Prama Hikvision introduced its MinMoe ‘touch-free’ temperature screening terminals to the market. Prama Hikvision’s MinMoe terminals employ face recognition and thermographic technologies to make access easier and safer for work areas, record attendance, and simultaneously screen temperatures without requiring employees to touch a terminal or gate. The ‘touch-free’ nature of the terminals is also suitable in high-throughput scenarios for fast temperature screening with access control, such as offices, factories, retail stores, schools, and so on.     Fast and accurate temperature screening with thermographic technology Equipped with advanced thermographic cameras, the MinMoe temperature screening terminals quickly and accurately detect elevated skin-surface temperatures for preliminary screening. The 0.3- to 2-meter recognition distance enables flexibility in deployment and detection. When detecting abnormal temperatures, MinMoe terminals can be set to deny access requests and alert operators to further confirm a person’s actual core body temperature using clinical measurement devices. Further, the terminals support a fast temperature measurement mode, which will detect temperatures only (identity authentication will not be conducted in this mode). ‘touch-free’ access control and attendance recording Many diseases have the potential to spread when people touch contaminated objects and surfaces. Because of this, reducing contact with terminals or gates – or avoiding touching altogether – increases employee hygiene and safety when passing through access control and attendance recording equipment. Compared against conventional fingerprint access control and time attendance devices, MinMoe terminals offer a pleasant ‘touch-free’ experience. Powered by a deep learning algorithm, MinMoe terminals ramp up accuracy of face recognition to over 99%, ensuring speedy and almost ‘non-stop’ passing. Furthermore, the terminal performs well in low- and even zero-light environments. Mask detection In many areas and scenarios, wearing masks has been suggested or even required by local governments, communities, or businesses themselves. Quick, automated mask detection will be another demand for access control systems. MinMoe temperature screening terminals can detect whether a person is wearing a mask. When a registered face is recognized but not wearing a mask, the device will prompt an audio reminder. This provides a simple way to automate monitoring and uphold requirements, regulations, and ultimately, safety.  

The culture of Auditing & Process Building in India: An Overview   The Indian economy saw a major emergence of both domestic and foreign MNCs within its political borders with the economic liberalization reforms of 1991. With this, while the inflow of foreign direct investments (FDIs) increased in various industry verticals of the economy, the inherent risks of the local environment remained ingrained in the newly set-up businesses and industrial zones. These risks primarily related to crime, terrorist activities, civic disturbances, natural disasters and likes. In short, while businesses opened up hastily and pro-actively in the new economic environment, the existing mindset regarding the culture of security did not necessarily change or follow the structural changes in the economy. Decades later, the reluctancy of looking over the security aspect as an ‘additional’ cost to an organization have now shown near-tectonic effects. At the domestic level, the long and diverse nature of the unrest unleased by the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) brought business continuity to a standstill in different states across the country. Second, at both domestic and global levels, the benefits of the historical reforms of 1991 have been neutralized by the outbreak of the Covid19 pandemic. The current scenario has now compelled businesses to re-assess that crisis plans are irrelevant, unless they can actually be implemented on-ground. The adoption of pragmatic and far-sighted processes and audits in security culture is a small but decisive step in this regard. Why is a change in the current scenario needed?   The outbreak of the Covid19 pandemic has highlighted once again that business risks may be mitigated, but never be actually prevented in whole from occurrence. It may not be an exaggeration to state that the pandemic has exhibited apprehensions/ risks of unprecedented extent and nature, of which no business continuity or crisis management plans had ever envisaged while they were framed. A survey carried out, in the midst of the pandemic, displayed the following outcomes from the respondents (mostly senior security managers of global firms in India).   While the above responses honestly display the current psychological mindset of professionals trying to gauge the pandemic effects on their organizations, the irony remains that global organizations had well-thought and drafted standard operating procedures (SOPs) on security and emergency response processes. Organizations, at their end, have also invested resources, time and capital to draft SOPs. Under such circumstances, it becomes more pertinent to assess whether these SOPs have been applied in reality, reviewed, up-graded or just have stayed on paper revisions? Analysing key shortcomings in Security Audits and related SOPs   Having discussed the current state of affairs in the overall corporate security domain in preceding sections, assessments and experiences gathered across various industry verticals primarily display the common shortcomings as follows: Absence of simplicity and use of excessive jargons or technical words: Not every person is a security professional and SOPs must be understood by cross-functional teams. Recommendations provided by security auditors are not implementable: Solutions recommended are either too expensive or not precise to be understood by the auditee. Holding back of knowledge by the security auditor: The auditor feels that giving too much insight in one audit itself may lead to loss of future business generation from the auditee. Below are few examples of the arguments put forward: Vague recommendation: Increase the boundary wall to ensure that it is difficult to be accessed by anyone. The wall must be fenced appropriately to further increase the height and reduce the risk of unwanted intrusion.(Note:Recommendation does not specifically explain height, fencing etc). Use of jargons: Installation of GPS in your official vehicles may be integrated with authorized SIGINT software, as legal under laws, to your centralized command centre (supported by back-end 24/7 embedded staff). (Note: Recommendation does not explain what elements like SIGINT, Embedded etc., mean for non-security professionals/ teams). The way forward: Suggestions for Improvements   The simplest ways for building actionable SOPs are to be guided by the very principles that drive the business and people of that organization. These are the principles of simplicity, accessibility, transparency and consistency – to build processes towards business excellence which every global firm strives for. While this may look like an uphill task for an organization, it actually is not: A change in the psychological mindset is the first step. Auditors need to exercise transparency and act as trusted partners to the organization which calls them upon. Similarly, the organization/ auditee must not be afraid of an auditor’s findings when the findings are provided in an amicable, lucid and professional manner by the auditor. SOPs do not need a crisis to prove their existence. This means SOPs need to be carried out in action through mock drills and red teaming exercises. Such real-life scenario enactments are very essential to review and identify strengths and weaknesses in a real emergency SOPs can never be time-bound i.e., there must always be room for the unknown future. The bridge to integrate the present and the future is to review and identify weaknesses in current SOPs and supplement them with new wings i.e., new or supplementary SOPs. This is a continuous cycle and has to be carried out at least every 1-2 years (depending on size, total asset value etc., of the organization). The role of stakeholder engagement (right from first-response teams to emergency managers to board/ owners) is indispensable in building sustainable and well-communicated processes. Else, audits and SOPs just remain limited to control room logbooks. Conclusion   The need of the hour for corporate India is to hence shed away pre-conceived notions regarding the negative attitude attached to security auditors and their scope of work. A confidence-building measure towards attaining this is the innovative concept of peer auditing (where security managers of different companies audit each other’s facility) as a voluntary and goodwill expression. Such audits develop a sense of comfort and familiarity to the idea of allowing an external party to have visibility and access to an organization’s internal state of affairs –…

In a world of constantly evolving economy, robbery, theft and other property crimes are also rapidly increasing. The need for businesses and organizations to outsource their banking transactions and have professional couriers handle their cash logistics becomes a necessity. While it’s true that cash management can be expensive, it also entails managing risks for both the couriers and the clients. For some cash-in-transit (CIT) companies, the use of uniformed and armed CIT professionals is deemed necessary. Others even utilize armoured trucks or armoured transport services. These vehicles are mostly bulletproof and are fashioned to transport extremely large quantities of money, ATM replenishment, and transport dignitaries or VIPs. However, not all cash-in-transit companies employ uniformed couriers and armoured vehicles. Why are covert operations better? Since the main obligation of any cash-in-transit company is to collect and deliver cash or a client’s valuables to the bank or any designated point, some companies find the use of armoured vehicle services essential for the business. But how safe is their hard-earned money in the hands of these couriers? According to a publication from the Australian Institute of Criminology, a total of 89 robbery incidents were recorded by Australian CIT companies over a 20-year period (1989-2008); specifically, there were 18 incidents in 2007 and 11 incidents in 2008. In the book entitled Encyclopedia of Victimology and Crime Prevention by Bonnie S. Fisher and Steven P. Lab, it was mentioned that even though most robbers target banks or any financial institutions, others still prefer robbing cash-in-transit vehicles. The robbers depict two main methods in committing the crime: (1) stopping and then attacking the CIT vehicle or (2) robbing the driver and couriers during delivery or after cash collection. As the leading cash-in-transit company in Australia, SecureCash focuses on covert operations. While using armoured trucks may be the norm in the security service industry, SecureCash has always operated in unmarked, soft-skinned vehicles and have never utilized armoured transports as part of its CIT fleet. From a security standpoint, a covert operation is a safe and risk-free approach to delivering an efficient cash-in-transit service. It eliminates risks During the transfer of cash or other valuables, the business becomes exposed and vulnerable to risks such as robberies. Try to imagine a big armoured vehicle or an armoured truck pulling up outside the office or home. This will certainly catch the eyes of criminals, from would-be thieves to organized crime syndicates. These criminals may decide not to rob the armoured truck or attack the couriers, but rather choose to plot a robbery right at the business location or home. By not using armoured vehicles, it will not only keep the couriers and drivers away from possible threats, but it will also ensure that the valuables and the client’s business stay safe. Aside from discouraging the use of armoured vehicle services, the bank couriers do not wear security uniforms or any marked, printed, easy-to-spot clothing. This is to avoid drawing too much public attention during the cash handling process. It enhances security SecureCash couriers are trained to master the art of blending into the crowd. In this way, they will be much harder to spot by anyone who’s plotting a robbery or theft. Since they are not easily recognised, their cash transfer patterns are unpredictable and more difficult to analyze. Likewise, an armed security guard or uniformed personnel coming in and out of the office, collecting and carrying an obvious bag of cash indicates a green signal for those prying criminal minds who are just waiting for the right opportunity. It’s the same as advertising to the public that a person has huge amounts of cash on-site to warrant the service of cash couriers. This is what Secure Cash has been trying to prevent, so clients will remain dedicated and keep the trust that they have given to the company for the last 25 years. Bethaney Bacchus, General Manager of SecureCash, shared that specializing in covert cash handling operations has provided many growth-oriented opportunities for the company and helped build quite a reputation among clients and partners nationwide. She added, “We save time for busy people by performing the banking duties, we offer a secure service by taking the risk away from people who are fearful to carry cash in public, we offer convenient service for people who suddenly find their bank branch has closed.” Managing cash and other valuables may be an expensive and risky venture, however, implementing tried and tested innovative solutions prove to be the key to a successful business operation. With the emergence of many security service providers in Australia, the effectiveness of one’s services provides the business with an extensive competitive advantage. To be a market leader in the industry, one must be the person who goes beyond the norm.  

  Access control systems are, of course, synonymous with security. Keeping people safe and places secure is their primary role. When these places are multi-tenant sites – with multiple subgroups of users with their own group and unique permissions – the access and security challenges are more complex. But even these can be well managed with intelligent integrated access control systems. Integrating CCTV, running sophisticated ‘cause and effect’ protocols, having a robust intruder detection system and strong cyber security measures are all essential components. But as an access control manufacturer, we carefully design our products to provide benefits beyond security too, making life easier and more pleasant for tenants and users, as well as security managers and site owners. Read on for our top nine ‘beyond security’ benefits that Inner Range intelligent access control systems can offer multi-tenant sites. 1. Partitioned systems Ok, this first one is a cheat because it is about security. But it’s highly useful for multi-tenant sites and not many access control systems offer this feature. Our enterprise level access control system, Integriti, offers ‘partitioned sites.’ This allows security managers to create users and other global entities that only exist within the partition they were created in. The partitions are completely isolated and invisible to users in other partitions, greatly reducing the chances of cyber criminals or rogue users accessing protected areas and information. 2. Smartphone access As we streamline our wallets and move increasingly to digital platforms, tenants and users can be set up to use their smartphones to open doors and other smart devices. This usually requires them to download a secure mobile app and then our Integriti system can read and check security credentials from users’ mobile phones to determine whether they are allowed access. 3. Managing visitors Applications to manage visitors ensure a secure, reliable and trusted method of managing visitors and stop receptionists getting bogged down creating credentials when visitors arrive. These systems can allow business tenants to issue temporary passes for their own visitors without needing to pass every request through a central security team. The passes can usually be issued on paper or in advance via email. They can also be issued as Apple Wallet or Google Pass credentials. These appear on the visitor’s smartphone with a QR code without the visitor having to search their phone for them. Location and time-based information included in the pass ensure it appears when and where it is needed. The passes can be read by our Integriti system at door entry readers, entrance turnstiles and lifts to ensure visitors only access areas agreed by the ‘host’ offering an efficient and hassle-free experience for everyone. 4. Parking made easy All our systems offer automatic number count that triggers to show whether car parks are full or still have space available when someone is approaching the entrance. Our Enterprise product, Integriti, can integrate with ANPR providers that read vehicle number plates and allow access for those with correct permissions including disabled users and/ or VIPs. 5. Cashless vending All user profiles can be loaded with credits for users to purchase drinks, food and other items on site. This saves time for users who don’t have to wait in long queues at lunch time and is easier for canteen workers who don’t have to deal with cash. 6. Heating and lighting efficiencies Everyone is concerened with their carbon footprint these days and our access control systems can be used to track when and where people are on site, meaning organisations can update heating and lighting timers to reflect what users really need. Access control systems can also be used to create automated heating or lighting actions in reaction to specific alerts such as lights coming on when a particular door is opened or when a certain number of people have entered a building or room. These measures make life more comfortable for users while also saving money and improving the environmental credentials of the site owners. 7. Automatic renewal reminders Our access control systems can be used to manage a range of permits and licences. For example, some clients offer parking permits that need to be paid for. Our access control systems will send automatic notifications when a permit or licence is about to expire, reminding them to top up or renew, and avoids frustration at the car park barrier if a permit has expired. 8. Health and safety certificates The reminder service mentioned above also applies to a host of health and safety licences and certificates. It’s imperative for companies to keep first aiders and machine operators up to date with training and mandatory refreshers. Our Integriti access control system will send automatic notifications when certificates are nearing expiration so individuals and companies have time to train or refresh skills as required. This takes pressure off health and safety managers who don’t have to record and remember all this information themselves and reduces the risk of an accident and/ or liability. 9. Automatic muster reports All our products, including our entry-level access control system Inception, offer automatic muster reports. These show who is where on site and can be scheduled to run in the event of a fire alarm to help with health and safety procedures. The alternative is a manual register of users in the event of an emergency, which is much more time-consuming. The fact our muster reports show the last known location of users means that if someone is missing, site managers or emergency crews will have a much better idea as to where to start searching.  

Robert Marsden, Managing Director of Addictive Technology said, “While we have a lot of experience in making and providing for better drive through experiences, there is always room to innovate and grow. We looked at the technologies now available and came up with a system that provides a faster, more frictionless ordering system, based on the latest licence plate recognition (LPR) technology.” Customers expect a fast, seamless drive-through experience, and are often under time pressure, especially if they are ordering food and coffee on their morning commute. Long queues and wait time can detract from the drive-through experience, and have a significant effect on customer satisfaction and loyalty. The success of the drive-through café or restaurant itself depends on getting as many customers serviced as possible in any given hour, especially at peak times. The fast food and beverage market is very competitive during commute times, and an efficient drive through service can be the difference between success or failure. Solution White Label Software built an in-house software solution that sits between a restaurant or cafe’s PoS system and networked video cameras, based on Milestone Systems’ open XProtect video management software (VMS) platform. The software uses LPR technology to identify regular customers as they drive up to place their order, accesses the restaurant’s database of VIP customers in real time to see if they have a favourite coffee or snack, and sends a message to the kitchen to start preparing those items before the customer has arrived at the sales window. The customer’s coffee will be ready before they arrive at the order point, and the system will also allow cross-checking to ensure that the predicted order matches the customer’s actual order. “Our PoS system has an API, and that application sits in the middle of Milestone and our PoS system. A Windows application reads the licence plates then talks to the PoS system. It is an SQL based system with a database stored in the cloud on Amazon Web servers, so it does all this in a few seconds,” said Marsden. The solution is also flexible. Outlets can decide whether they want customers to register in advance and confirm what they want ahead of time, so that the same order is placed every time or they have the option of using the predictive analysis built into White Label’s proprietary PoS software. This analysis proves accurate for 90 percent of orders,with just 10 percent of customers deciding they want something different on a specific day. The PoS software will analyse the customer’s last ten or more orders and pick the one that comes up the most. The cost of any wastage using this system is considerably less than the cost of a slower drive-through experience. The innovation stems from Addictive Technology’s extensive experience working with Drive Thru food outlets. When provisioning a drive-through space, the SI deploys all technologies themselves from PoS through to networking and wireless, LPR software and all associated integrations. Addictive’s Milestone Systems LPR solution provides a minimum of four or five seconds head-start for each predicted order, and as much as two minutes head-start for high volume outlets during busy times. This head-start can be critical to avoiding congestion at busy times, and make the difference between an efficient and streamlined ordering process, and one which backs up and causes customers to be delayed. The solution means that when cars are queued at the order point, the outlet can already be making coffee for the car behind it. In the quick service restaurant industry, outlets survive or perish based on their customer satisfaction, and the number of cars that are able to physically pass through their drive-through on an hourly basis. The Milestone solution Milestone Systems is an open platform, meaning that developers are able – and openly encouraged – to build upon the code. This has enabled Addictive Technology to adapt the existing LPR software to their own needs, and integrate it with their proprietary PoS software solution. Software is seldom used in a stand-alone capacity these days, so the power of an open platform means that integrators such as Addictive Technology are able to harness the power of a major platform, and combine with several other solutions to provide customers with a fully integrated system that fits their specific needs.   “The power of an open platform such as Milestone allows us to tailor solutions directly to our customers’ requirements, and then extend our ongoing services to those customers after the build. Everybody wins – customers get the system that works best for their financial outlay; as a systems integrator we get to provide the sort of solutions and services that we want, rather than being forced to follow someone else’s guidelines, and we get to administer that solution after it is deployed in order to maintain satisfied customers,” explained Marsden. Due to the flexibility of Milestone Systems’ platform, Addictive Technology is also able to keep customer costs down. Rather than rely on specific cameras with extended functionality for LPR use, the solution is able to use relatively cost-effective cameras, so long as the resolution is of high enough quality. Further to this, Addictive Technology is able to deploy the Milestone LPR software on a physical CCTV server along with cameras and storage, rather than provision a dedicated server, which further reduces costs or run it on dedicated Milestone hardware. In other instances the SI has built a virtualised LPR server based on a VMware running Windows 10, in order to re-use existing hardware. “This again demonstrates the flexibility and power of the software-driven solution,” explained Marsden. The bespoke PoS and LPR solutions designed and implemented by Addictive Technology are also made available to other companies wishing to licence them, which opens up another window of opportunity for Addictive Technology. Marsden explained that on the next version of the software, currently being built by White Label, orders will be sent straight to the kitchen video system as well as different locations throughout the…

The past couple of weeks have been intense for most companies since they had to shift to working remotely. This situation is unfortunately a huge opportunity for cyber-attackers. Remote connections mean more vulnerabilities to exploit. Active Directory (AD) is the main identity and access platform for companies around the world. If you want to secure your network you need to protect the remote use of AD credentials. Phishing aimed at the most vulnerable As if it was not enough on its own, the recent coronavirus outbreak brought with it a lot of new phishing email campaigns. The attackers are aiming at the most vulnerable users – just like the disease itself – your new remote employees. Using public fear to lure their victims is their main strategy. They send URLs or document to download of safety recommendations or infection maps. The probability of users clicking on a link or downloading an attachment is higher than ever. Basically, hackers are after a set of compromised credentials which they can use to access a network and move laterally within it to locate anything valuable that can be exploited. Even worse, similar to the coronavirus, you might not even know you’ve been touched. The Ponemon Institute says that 191 days is the average data breach discovery time. The threat surface is growing Now more than ever, your organization might be at high risk if you don’t have a sufficient protection of Active Directory connections. Most companies have been forced to work remotely which has expanded rapidly the threat surface. This risk is higher when we know that most companies weren’t ready for it, they had no time to prepare whatsoever. What they did is that they rushed to allow Microsoft remote desktop (RDP) access so that their employees would be able to access desktop resources remotely. Understandable enough, companies’ priority has been the continuation of operations. Cybersecurity didn’t get the attention it deserved. Remote Active Directory logins security RDP access is unfortunately not fully secure, it is only protected by a single password. Here are three recommendations to protect those sessions:  Strengthen passwords.  Use a Virtual Private Network (VPN) for all remote sessions. Enable two-factor authentication on these remote sessions. These 3 steps will allow you to significantly improve the security of your remote employees. For more security and to fully minimize the risk, find below a full list of recommendations written by experts: Remote working equipment policy: The best thing is to use the devices available, secured and controlled by your organization. If this is not an option, you should give clear usage and security rules to your employees working from home. Make sure to secure your external access: To do so, use a VPN (Virtual Private Network). Once this is done, and if you can, limit VPN access to only authorized equipment to strengthen security. If anyone tries to connect from a ‘non-authorized’ device, login must be denied. Strong password policy: To be strong and safe, all your passwords must be long, complex and unique. However, passwords will only be vulnerable. To address those vulnerabilities, activate two-factor authentication on all remote sessions, especially for connections to the corporate network. Deploy security updates: Whenever they’re available they need to be deployed on all pieces of equipment in your information system. If you don’t, attacker scan quickly exploit those vulnerabilities. Backup of data and activities: After an attack, backups might be the only way for your company to recover its data. Perform and test backups on a regular basis to make sure they are working. Use antiviral solutions: A professional antiviral solution helps protect your company from viral attacks, but also sometimes from phishing, or from some ransomware. Logging of the activity and access: Systematic logging of all access and activities of your workstations and equipment (servers, firewall, proxy…) will give you information on how a cyber-attack happened, its extent and how to remedy it. Supervise the activity of external access: It’s important to be able to detect suspicious access, it could represent a sign of an attack. To be able to detect those, you need to monitor all your remote sessions and access to your files and folders. For even more security, real-time alerts and immediate reactions are a great way to act before damage is done. User awareness: Your remote employees must be given clear instructions on what they can or can’t do. They are the first barrier to help you avoid/ detect attacks. Be ready for a cyber-attack: Perfect security doesn’t exist. No organization, whatever its size, is immune to cyber-attacks. If you anticipate by assessing the possible scenarios, you can take the necessary measures to protect your organization. Managers must be involved: They have to be implicated and responsible when it comes to security. It’s important in order to ensure employees’ adhesion.  

Rapid all-round advancement and growth over last few decades combined with grave security incidents such as 9/11 tragedy has called for better security of assets at workplace, in transit, as well as at places of residence. Yesteryears watchmen, transformed into professional security guards are now organised into private security services or private security industry. They outnumber the regular police force multi-times. In India, with strength of over 9 million, they are approximately five times the number of the police force. Worldwide the private security services are a multi billion dollar industry. Today the security personnel dovetailed with electronic and hardware resources are securing residential and commercial complexes, services, communications, transportation etc. They may be guarding an ATM kiosk, protecting important personalities or taking care of millions of currency in transit; they are ensuring a safe and secure environment. Although not meant to replace the regular police, they supplement them, take the load off an overburdened and over stretched police and fill gaps which the latter finds difficult to close because of paucity of manpower. The devastating coronavirus pandemic (Covid-19) is unprecedented in recent history. Last time the world faced similar devastation was in 1918 when it was hit by the Spanish Flu. Since generations have lived past that misfortune, the faded memories and forgotten lessons of 1918 pandemic have left us with scant precedence to follow resulting in slow reactions even by the most advanced nations in fighting Covid-19. Few nations have been spared by the virus owing to multiple reasons. However, amongst those affected India is one such country where hard decisions taken by the governments, strict enforcements and health compliances have saved lives and contained the spread to manageable levels. While the political leadership in India has made bold decisions and the bureaucracy laid a clear roadmap, the medical services, maintenance staff, police and essential service providers are the true heroes in fighting Covid-19. Undeterred by personal safety threats, they are fighting battles as front line soldiers. But of the many elements that are immensely contributing, the private security industry is yet unrecognised. They have been working tirelessly round the clock to ensure success of lockdowns in their respective areas of responsibility. In these challenging time it would not be out of turn to highlight their role, dovetail them with police, and employ them more proactively so that load on force is reduced thus freeing them for other important tasks. This would enable the police achieve better efficiency and address areas not yet covered. The recommendations are centred around Indian surroundings but their applicability is worldwide, and hence worth highlighting for common good of all nation states. Despite the vast majority being clear as to how the virus infects and its prevention techniques, yet many believe that the disease will not strike them. The social media to which each one of us is exposed today is also somewhat adding to negativity, and confusing and misdirecting the general public by fake forwards. Here, the security guards can take on the role of spreading authentic and official government version. The security agencies can be earmarked as the authorized communicators and the security staff can make announcements on mobile public address systems about guidelines, restrictions in place and other posts the local administration want to communicate to general public in specific areas. Handling rouge elements who have been violating government orders and threatening doctors and health care workers is another challenge being faced by the administration. Safety of these individuals while in hospitals, in transit or at their places of stay can be assigned to the private security personnel thus giving them confidence to move and work without fear. Rural and semi-urban areas are cohesive entities and people staying there still follow traditional approach while dealing with natural or man made threats. For example, to fight the threat, majority of villages there have gone back to ‘pehra’ (community guarding) system to keep away outsiders coming in as well as prevent any person from leaving the village. The ‘pehra’ committees are ruthlessly guarding and patrolling villages which has kept the disease at bay at most places. But the most affected by Covid-19 have been the built up areas, housing societies, urban clusters, markets, lanes and by lanes. Although the lockdowns are being effectively imposed by police in identified Hot Spots, on main roads and highways but when it comes to individual localities, the lockdown is ineffective as people there are defying movement restrictions. The security guards responsible for keeping people in check here are hired by societies themselves and since these private guards are on the residents ‘payroll, the latter do not pay much attention to orders being enforced by these guards. Even during these difficult times people openly refuse to listen to private security guards and behave arrogantly when checked for lockdown violations. This demoralising and discouraging of security guards manifest in low social-distancing enforcements. Since the limited police persons cannot be deployed everywhere, an alternate is swapping of roles. While private security guards can be deployed in less pressure areas such as police stations, police personnel can be relieved from there to enforce lockdown in urban societies, clusters, lanes and by lanes. The heavy hand of law will keep people restricted to their homes and thus enforce social-distancing. Like most professions security is a specialised field. Because of surplus availability of workforce these security personnel are valued less, and listened to even lesser. Every adult and every child that comes out of his/ her home has a suggestion to offer as to how the guard should sit/ stand/ work/ talk. Ideally, the minimum level to whom the security head in any organisation or locality should report to is their vice president. But invariably the security head is asked to report to the officer lower in hierarchy. The advice given by the security head is invariably brushed aside since the hierarchy considers him no better than them. This results in unprofessionalism which in turn sends confusing signals to the last…

Could you remember when you saw a drone the last time – hopefully in a wedding! As the latest fad, grand weddings suddenly appear incomplete without drones doing aerial photography. Almost everyone today is familiar with the term ‘drone,’ and everyone does likely remember the kids flying toys as the earliest airborne drones. It is becoming an increasingly popular way to refer the small (usually) helicopter-like devices that are being flown as ‘drones.’ The word ‘drone’ is used not only to cover a $15 hobby aircraft that a child flies, but also to describe a high-tech $15 million weapon used on a battlefield. Those devices don’t exactly serve the same purpose. They have different names too. Drones are also known as ‘unmanned aerial vehicles’ (UAVs). Many professionals in the industry believe that UAVs need to have autonomous flight capabilities, whereas drones do not. Therefore, all drones are UAVs but not vice versa – all UAVs are not drones. While drones make most people think of ‘unmanned aircrafts that can fly autonomously – that is – without a human in control,’ it can actually be used to describe a wide variety of vehicles. For example, there are seafarings (like submarines), or unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs), and/ or also even land based unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) – they also count under the given definition of drone. While most of us are still fathoming drones as our own sky-patrolling aircraft, the next major step for them is already happening i.e., the unexplored underwater tasks. Scientists with National Ocean Service estimate that more than 95 percent of the earth’s oceans have so far gone unexplored in absence of an equipment like underwater drones. Sensors: The core Prior to understanding the deployment of UAVs or drones it is important to understand that a drone is just a meagre platform to carry the sensors which form the core of what is desired from the UAV platform. Without the sensor package a UAV is nothing but a fancy toy. With the advancement and miniaturization of sensor technology UAVs are finding new ways to solve myriad problems. With the advent of 3D printing technology and advanced materials, the design and development cost of UAVs have also gone down significantly, making it possible for governments, private and public sector to consider using them. Gone are the days when a UAV carried a simple video camera – today they carry fused sensors which can be deployed under varying weather conditions. Some of the important sensors such as hyperspectral sensor and LIDAR are beginning to revolutionize agriculture, and town and country planning. With the development and integration of ‘sense-and-avoid’ (SAA) system, UAVs are poised to take another quantum leap in deployment for delivery operations as they will be able to perform complex flight operations in the national airspace. Drones in India India’s drone journey which began more than two decades ago, deploys one of the largest fleets of military drones in the world; however, its journey in the civilian and commercial arena has only just begun. The UAV sector in India is beginning to look up with a number of service providers, startups engaged in innovative design and development. There are over a dozen UAV companies that have found their niche in this sector and are engaged in military, civil and commercial sectors. Drones & Mission Smart Cities India with its smart cities program spread across its diverse landscape provides an ideal laboratory for the deployment of UAVs and related technologies. India, in keeping with the global trend of transforming existing cities into smart cities, has identified nearly 100 such cities for transformation. The smart city initiative launched by the Modi Government in 2014 is expected to find new vigor which will provide a much-needed boost to the UAV industry. According to CISCO, smart cities are those cities that use digital technology to connect, protect and enhance the lives of the citizens. The UN has estimated that by the year 2050, 68% of the world population will be living in urban areas. In such a scenario drones become an ever-increasing important piece of puzzle for ushering in efficiencies in the management of the urban environment. UAVs become effective tools only when they are available at the grass root levels of every arm of government and civil society, and operate within a set of well-defined rules and regulations. With the recent advances in cloud computing, AI, wireless sensors, networked unmanned systems, big data, and Internet of Things, billions of devices are being connected together, providing a substantial opportunity for UAVs in smart cities program. “A drone is just a meagre platform to carry the sensors which form the core of what is desired from the UAV platform. Without the sensor package a UAV is nothing but a fancy toy” The use of UAVs in geo-spatial surveying and geographical information systems is revolutionizing the way smart cities operate by bringing down cost for such operations. A land survey which takes weeks and months while done manually by a surveyor can now be done in less than an hour. UAVs can relay accurate and real time information which plays an important role in the civil security of cities. They may provides information to the civic administration to deploy proactive measures rather than reactive ones. Such a decision-making process is a hallmark of a smart city concept. Drone technology today has matured to the point where it does not take an engineer or a technician to operate. Even a normal high school graduate can be trained to operate it very effectively. A good quality UAV system is fully autonomous, meaning it can take off, conduct the mission and land back in base all by itself. Such autonomous UAVs are now being used by law enforcement agencies for smart policing activities. Integration of UAVs with mobile applications, forensic software, secure and reliable wireless networks can help smart cities become a safe place. The recent news has caught attention that our own police department in Uttar…