Securing the perimeter

Airports can redefine perimeter security by embracing unified solutions and deploying emerging technologies, writes Genetec’s Jon Hill.

For good reason, airside physical security strategies have traditionally focused on securing and monitoring the perimeter. It’s a proven and effective means of identifying dangerous elements or intruders at a distance before they reach more high-risk zones.

Protecting the perimeter remains a vital concern. Yet, what could once be considered a largely one-dimensional challenge has now significantly evolved. The ease with which drones can fly over high fences – and the determination of protesters to tunnel under them – has changed the game.

With an estimated million drones entering the world’s airspace each month, drone detection has become a hot topic in the discussion around perimeter protection. And it’s not as straight forward as simply treating any small device in the vicinity of an airport as hostile.

As recent events at London Gatwick have demonstrated, it’s important to know why a drone is operating in the vicinity of the airport, to be able to trace where it’s going and to ensure that its purpose is legal and co-ordinated. It’s perfectly possible for a drone to be outside of the five kilometres no fly-zone commonly in place around an airport. But if it’s approaching at speed and on a trajectory towards a runway then it needs to be on the proverbial radar.

Many organisations are now asking how they can effectively protect their perimeter and prevent breaches. The answer is to deploy a unified security system and then incorporate new technologies as part of a more comprehensive perimeter strategy.

Good perimeter security requires a layered approach

Conceptually, it is easy to think that a facility has a single perimeter that must be secured. Traditionally, securing the perimeter meant deploying a security system that would be triggered when a person or entity touched the fence line.

This approach oversimplifies the reality of today’s perimeters as most facilities now have multiple, overlapping perimeters, each with its own rights of access, risk profile, and operational requirements.

As a result, an organisation cannot rely exclusively on any one sensor or analytic to detect intrusion. They need a layered approach to perimeter security that ensures that all is not lost should one method fail. A layered security installation employs a combination of sensor technologies to create more than one active line of defence.

Recent innovations in security technology allow security personnel to redefine perimeter security by giving them the ability to look beyond the fence line and get more specific about what they should be monitoring and how.

These innovations make it possible for organisations to detect potential unauthorised intrusions beyond the perimeter by implementing a multi-layered approach that involves a variety of technologies, including heatmaps, intrusion detection sensors like radars, LiDARs, lasers, and fence sensors as well as video analytics cameras, access control and other standalone systems.

Unifying systems is key

When an organisation does not unify its security systems and technologies on a single platform, and instead relies on vendor integration, it can create gaps in information or an incomplete view of the perimeter. To ensure that these systems do not work in unconnected siloes, it’s important to put in place a unified approach to cross qualify incidents and alerts.

A unified physical security platform helps connect the dots between the data collected by these different systems to provide the situational awareness necessary to keep facilities and people safe.

By presenting all breach information, threats, and potential intrusions together, a unified system enables operators to make critical decisions quickly. This enables organisations to deploy high-resolution cameras to capture clear, long-range images to complement perimeter detection.

The system can be configured in such a way that the first line of perimeter detection at the fence prompts alerts that will trigger these cameras to automatically pan-tilt-zoom into target areas for visual identification. The video surveillance footage will then be sent directly to the security monitoring centre or the security director’s smart phone for immediate verification and response.

Managing these devices and alarms directly from an integrated mapping system can further help operators quickly pinpoint other pertinent devices nearby to get a broader view of the situation. By combining perimeter detection, area intrusion, high-resolution cameras, and location mapping tools within a unified platform, an organisation can improve response times and minimise the risk of breaches going undetected.

Identifying potential threats is critical

The early identification of potential threats at the perimeter gives security operators time to prepare a response and take any necessary action. By proactively extending security using LiDAR technology and seismic sensors, security personnel can monitor movements and watch for potential intrusions outside the fence line.

But knowing that something is about to breach a secure perimeter doesn’t tell you whether a threat is real or how serious it is. Sensors could be detecting wildlife, a person, or a car. The ability to see who or what is approaching a perimeter helps security personnel make the right decisions about threat levels as well as what actions need to be taken.

Assessing an incident at a fence or other restricted area is made easier when security personnel have eyes on the scene. By classifying threats visually and pulling relevant data from multiple systems, security personnel can identify if an intrusion requires immediate action.

Using filtering features, security teams can also filter objects (humans vs. animals for instance) in different zones to reduce nuisance alarms.

Physical Identity and Access Management Systems (PIAMS) add another layer to the process by connecting access control to business systems, including human resource directories. This interconnectivity allows organisations to automatically assign or remove access to restricted areas based on corporate policies.

As employees leave or change roles within an organisation, their access to sensitive areas can be adjusted to reflect changes in the HR directory or other linked systems.

The importance of managing all that data

As organisations deploy more and more sensors at the perimeter, they increase the amount of information coming in. This can become overwhelming for security personnel, especially when they must actively monitor all the input from these sensors to identify specific threats.

A unified security system that supports greater automation can help. Automated alerts, alongside digitised standard operating procedures (SOPs) that guide personnel step-by-step on how to respond to events, can help ensure that possible threats are identified, investigated, and resolved in a timely and consistent manner across different shift patterns and individuals.

The ability to fuse event data is also important for ensuring perimeter security. Operators must understand events as they occur in order to make informed decisions based on threat levels.

A unified security system provides greater situational awareness for operators by fusing together reports and alerts from all modules currently running on the platform. This is critical as it allows an emerging situation to be seen from all parts of the system as a single event rather than a series of separate incidents.

When it comes to protecting the perimeter, you need to adopt an intelligent, layered approach that will allow you to extend security beyond the fence line. By selecting a unified system that can incorporate a wide variety of new technologies, you can better secure your facilities today and in the future.

About the author

Jon Hill is an account executive for transport and public safety at Genetec.