• Thanks for stopping by. Logging in to a registered account will remove all generic ads. Please reach out with any questions or concerns.

Canada/US Border Integrity Thread

On the DJI drones, the security concerns are going to depend on use… If it’s a border team just using them sporadically to check stretches of fence out in the woods, that’s not terribly concerning. No more than existing use cases like measuring collision scenes. These are relatively short endurance and limited capability UAS.

By all means work to replace them with more secure options as they become available, but it doesn’t seem like these would be used in roles where they present much hazard in terms of operational or information security. The overwhelming majority of border-hoppers are gonna just be border hoppers. Of those who are something worse, the overwhelming majority of those will be common criminals, organized or otherwise.

Much of this can likely be risk-managed on a short term basis, particularly given the risk of NOT having adequate ‘right now’ UAS capabilities. The federal government has all the rights needs in various organizations to very thoroughly define how much this is a problem and how to manage it. And, for perspective, there are probably tens of thousands (or more) of DJI drones in private and organizational use on both sides of the border already. I’d be more worried about one flying around CFS Leitrim, or Ogilvie Road, or DHTC than up over a clearing in the woods between the end of Boulevard-des-chutes-de-Tabarnac, and New York State rural route 156. And I’m WAY more concerned about the potential for kinetic weaponization of SUAS in private use… But that’s a different threat vector entirely.
 
On the DJI drones, the security concerns are going to depend on use… If it’s a border team just using them sporadically to check stretches of fence out in the woods, that’s not terribly concerning. No more than existing use cases like measuring collision scenes. These are relatively short endurance and limited capability UAS.

By all means work to replace them with more secure options as they become available, but it doesn’t seem like these would be used in roles where they present much hazard in terms of operational or information security. The overwhelming majority of border-hoppers are gonna just be border hoppers. Of those who are something worse, the overwhelming majority of those will be common criminals, organized or otherwise.

Much of this can likely be risk-managed on a short term basis, particularly given the risk of NOT having adequate ‘right now’ UAS capabilities. The federal government has all the rights needs in various organizations to very thoroughly define how much this is a problem and how to manage it. And, for perspective, there are probably tens of thousands (or more) of DJI drones in private and organizational use on both sides of the border already. I’d be more worried about one flying around CFS Leitrim, or Ogilvie Road, or DHTC than up over a clearing in the woods between the end of Boulevard-des-chutes-de-Tabarnac, and New York State rural route 156. And I’m WAY more concerned about the potential for kinetic weaponization of SUAS in private use… But that’s a different threat vector entirely.
Thanks for more of the REST of the story - appreciated!
 
On the DJI drones, the security concerns are going to depend on use… If it’s a border team just using them sporadically to check stretches of fence out in the woods, that’s not terribly concerning. No more than existing use cases like measuring collision scenes. These are relatively short endurance and limited capability UAS.

By all means work to replace them with more secure options as they become available, but it doesn’t seem like these would be used in roles where they present much hazard in terms of operational or information security. The overwhelming majority of border-hoppers are gonna just be border hoppers. Of those who are something worse, the overwhelming majority of those will be common criminals, organized or otherwise.

Much of this can likely be risk-managed on a short term basis, particularly given the risk of NOT having adequate ‘right now’ UAS capabilities. The federal government has all the rights needs in various organizations to very thoroughly define how much this is a problem and how to manage it. And, for perspective, there are probably tens of thousands (or more) of DJI drones in private and organizational use on both sides of the border already. I’d be more worried about one flying around CFS Leitrim, or Ogilvie Road, or DHTC than up over a clearing in the woods between the end of Boulevard-des-chutes-de-Tabarnac, and New York State rural route 156. And I’m WAY more concerned about the potential for kinetic weaponization of SUAS in private use… But that’s a different threat vector entirely.
Agreed, but my other concern is if someone plugs them into a .gc computer…
 
As I explained a few pages ago- they don’t access the DJI ecosystem at all. Not even updates- updates are individually vetted. The images are stored to memory cards- the software output has been dissected to ensure that nothing coming off the cards comes with it but the image data. They are closed off from everything.

It’s not foolproof but it’s not like they bought them at radio shack and threw them up.
 
That was fast.


View attachment 90674

If anyone is interested here is the registration data for this particular airframe, which was apparently built in 1979.

 
If anyone is interested here is the registration data for this particular airframe, which was apparently built in 1979.

Sounds about the right age for us to look at buying it.
 
This can be potentially very bad for us. If it comes out that the Officer was killed by someone transporting illegal migrants who had crossed into the US, Trump will definitely use this against us as another sign of the lack of enforcement on the US-Canada border.

U.S. Border Patrol agent killed in Vermont near Canada-U.S. border, say authorities​


The now-dead shooter was a German citizen who was in the US on a valid visa. So, no, they did not sneak in from Canada.
 
Tally ho!

Note his warning about their northern border...

ICE deportation operations have begun, says Trump border czar​



Not to sound like a totally cold prick, but let's hope for some icy Arctic weather on the days when illegals think about physically crossing the border illegally...

-35'C should get some folks to say "Nah screw it, I'll figure something else out...




As for Bombardier & building us some drones, we're basically bankrupt now as it is fellas. No need to bleed even more money...

(2 bailouts later & we might get something that flies, provided it doesn't take TC ages to certify the bloody things!)

...


Medicine Hat has a company that builds similar drones I believe

But as per what Booter has said, I think the RCMP's use of the drones is being turned into something it isn't by the media.

They purchased the drones, and liked their ease of maintenance. Their comms have been made so they don't connect to the parent network, and measures have been taken to ensure any images coming off of them is just that & nothing else.

If nothing else I'm sure the drones will be helpful in other law enforcement, surveillance, or SAR tasks.
 
But as per what Booter has said, I think the RCMP's use of the drones is being turned into something it isn't by the media.

They purchased the drones, and liked their ease of maintenance. Their comms have been made so they don't connect to the parent network, and measures have been taken to ensure any images coming off of them is just that & nothing else.

If nothing else I'm sure the drones will be helpful in other law enforcement, surveillance, or SAR tasks.

Nothing new about UAS for law enforcement. I’ve seen them for years being used to survey collision scenes, monitor public order events, and the like. I’ve seen drones used in ‘knock and call out’ tactical team hits where the drone is used to partially clear a residence in a search warrant before any cops physically step inside. Suspect identification and surveillance to assist arrest is increasing, though complicated by airspace concerns.

Police UAS is pretty much just a flying camera. In most use cases so long as the imagery isn’t going out in the clear and able to be intercepted, there isn’t any real security concern.

Axon’s now marketing a tethered drone for police usage; base station is a vehicle. No signal to intercept, power and control are delivered over a physical line. Obviously that limits range to the tether radius, but the persistence is useful. In winter we’re often seeing drones with dead batteries inside 20-30 minutes. https://www.axon.com/products/axon-air/fotokite
 
Back
Top