Threats to the electrical utility industry are on the rise. From cybersecurity attacks to physical security threats, electrical utilities need to pursue innovative approaches to predicting, detecting, identifying, and responding to vulnerabilities.

This level of innovation should follow a streamlined process of various assessments, including risk, threat, vulnerability, and engineering, to determine the most appropriate response. When a new technology is identified as the best solution, the integration and installation process can begin by taking into consideration the Security Operations Center (SOC) policies, processes, and procedures.

Convergint partners with Milestone to protect utilities infrastructure with transformative drone and radar detection security solutions.

Integrating drone detection

The basis of a utility’s security posture is the SOC. An innovative SOC integrates all physical security and operational systems into a single pane of glass for greater situational awareness. It also leverages all data sources to identify patterns, trends, and precursors to incidents. The result is a proactive, predictive security posture that identifies threats before they occur.

One proactive security capability that utilities should employ is drone detection. While there are many beneficial uses of drones for inspections and monitoring, drone attacks pose a unique threat to utilities. The low cost, ease of operation, fast flight speed, anonymity, and ability to hold payloads makes drones formidable threats.

Detect

Drone detection solutions seek to detect drones within an airspace as soon as they are powered on. Since utilities are not allowed to mitigate drones, either physically or electronically, the next best option is to identify the pilot’s location and dispatch security personnel or law enforcement to the address.

Alert

The alerts that drone detection systems generate should be integrated into the SOC. From a single interface, SOC operators should instantly be notified of a drone and then be presented with live video from associated cameras to mirror the drone’s estimated flight path. The alert data containing the pilot’s location, drone location, flight path, flight speed, and time-to-target should be displayed on a map of the utility’s facility and SOPs should be automatically referenced to ensure the SOC operator is responding appropriately and gathering the right information.

Integrating radar detection

Ground radar systems are a relatively new Perimeter Intrusion Detection (PID) technology that allows for detection, classification, and tracking of multiple targets both outside and inside the perimeter. Unlike traditional PID systems, ground radar can detect targets at further distances and requires less sensors to provide coverage of a given area.

Ground radar can also provide continuous tracking information, whereas traditional PID systems can only note the location where the intruder entered the facility. With configurable zones and rules, ground radar allows for a layered security approach, automating responses to events and reducing the workload of the SOC operator.

Detect & alert

As part of an overall facility security system, a ground radar unit can detect a person at 10 meters from the perimeter, determine if that person is moving towards the perimeter, and trigger an audio/visual warning using speakers and strobes, notifying the potential intruder that they are being observed. If the intruder reaches the fence line, the system can then alert the SOC operators and direct available PTZ cameras to track the target, while changing the audio/visual warning to indicate a breach is imminent.

Track

Relying on PTZ cameras alone to track an intruder presents a challenging scenario where the SOC operator must handle camera controls. A ground radar system working with the video management software can help to automate this process, allowing the SOC operator to keep the intruder under observation with minimal action, freeing the operator to perform other tasks like contacting law enforcement.

Respond

As many utility facilities are unmanned, the ability of the ground radar unit combined with the automation and visualization of the VMS platform can prevent incidents from occurring and ensure that only real incidents emanate a response.

Learn more

Convergint, partnered with Milestone, has the expertise needed to deploy a streamlined perimeter security system to keep companies in the utilities sector safe and operating smoothly. Contact a security expert today to learn more.

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