Over the past decade, the word drone has become as much a part of our daily vocabulary as swipe, Insta and reality TV star.
Stories about drone sightings – particularly serious incidents like the one at Gatwick Airport in 2018 when hundreds of flights were cancelled – regularly make the headlines but it’s easy to think ‘it couldn’t happen here’ and ‘nobody’s interested in my business’.
The harsh truth is it could – and they might be.
As an award-winning perimeter protection solutions provider, Eclipse has compiled eight top tips to help secure your business or organisation’s reputation and protect you and your team against the threat of drones:
- Remember that the law is on your side. Drones should not fly within 150 metres of property, traffic or people, the maximum flight height is 120 metres and operators should always be able to see their drone
- Ask the operator to stop. Chances are they are simply doing a job or trying to shoot some footage. If the drone is hovering outside a window or hovering over your building and you can’t find the operator, you may have a legitimate complaint
- Don’t damage the drone. It may be illegal and could lead to a prosecution case against you
- If you have blinds, close them immediately. What the drone can’t see, it can’t record
- Use a screen protector or, if a drone is detected, turn the screen off or away from its line of vision
- Document the flight. Record the exact time and date, get as much information as possible about the make and model of the drone and, if you can, take photos. With a relatively short battery life, it won’t be there for long, so acting quickly is vital
- Inform your IT department immediately. Drones can be used to generate a cyber threat, either hacking your network or generating a spoof network to steal information
- Call the police and possibly report to the aviation authority. The police should deal with the complaint and if they deem it necessary and feel the drone has been operated illegally or in an unsafe way by a contractor, they may inform the aviation authority to revoke the operator’s permissions to fly.
Eclipse’s award-winning drone detection and mitigation systems are designed to protect your perimeters by identifying and deterring unwanted drones from entering your airspace. Call our team on 0370 760 5600 to find out more.
