# Best Practices for Data Security in the Era of Drone Docks

- Event: NestGen ’24
- Published: April 9, 2024
- Length: 1:02:02
- Watch: https://nestgen.org/library/watch/AFrpEOY8xYg/

> The transcript of a recorded NestGen session, for reading or for use with an AI tool. It comes from the video's
> captions; automatic captions can mishear names and terms.

## About this session

Explore expert insights on data security in drone dock operations. Discover encryption methods, network safeguards, and regulatory compliance for protecting sensitive information. Gain valuable strategies from industry leaders in public safety and technology development. Learn how to ensure data integrity and privacy in drone operations, staying ahead of evolving challenges. Join the discussion to stay informed on the latest advancements and best practices in safeguarding data in the era of drone technology.

To know more, visit:

=====
Subscribe to FlytBase YouTube -

Follow Us On -

LinkedIn -
Facebook -
Twitter -
Instagram -

## Transcript

**[0:20]** good morning good afternoon good evening everyone thank you very much for joining us today we have another really interesting session uh we're going to be talking about best practices for data security in the era of drone docks um today I'm going to be your moderator first of all there's a few things I just want to share with you we're going to first of all thank DJI and our sponsors for hosting this event thank you very much for FlytBase being very informative so far been some really interesting discussions um for those that want to watch and may maybe need to slip away early this session is being recorded so we will share this in due course and also we welcome any questions from the audience we're going to have a Q q a session towards the end um so more than welcome to ask anything that is pertinent to this discussion first and foremost I'm going to do a few quick introductions of the esteemed guests that are with us today and some you may be familiar with some not so start with myself I am the general manager of the Drone Center I've been in the Drone industry

**[1:21]** nearly 11 years now with experiencing Europe and now the Middle East going to move on to Vic please introduce yourself uh good morning here from Denver Colorado uh I'm Vic Moss I'm a photographer videographer by trade a policy won by choice when it comes to uas uh I'm the uh CEO of drone service provider Alliance we're a a advocacy group for commercial drone Pilots here in the states uh I'm also among other things uh citizen uas operator is my title for the FAA's advanced Aviation advisory committee thanks Vic thanks for the introduction yeah it's good to have you on board deaj please introduce yourself thanks God uh hi everyone I'm DJ I'm director of product cied base I have been working in drone industry for about 10 years now majorly started with my background in robotics with the Masters in robotics and competitional perception from Georgia Tech and worked in like on the verge of

**[2:21]** Robotics and drones for about 10 years with lot of amazing products and working with flight Bas ever like for this 10 years and I'm looking forward to this interesting discussion on data security in the of drone talks yeah welcome everyone awesome to have D going to have your technical knowhow to hand thank you very much Chris it's a honor to have you with us today please uh introduce yourself thanks thanks for having us FlytBase and DJI I appreciate it I'm Chris the founder and CEO of uvt unmanned vehicle Technologies were based here in the United States and uh quickly become active in the remote operations space deploying drone docks and other systems uh Nationwide here in the US it's great to be here thanks thanks Chris it's good to have you here thank you very much I think you and Vic go back as well so it's good to have some Synergy there um and of course pesman uh very close contact with mine we've known each other for some time now it's an absolute honor to have you here pan please introduce yourself my pleasure hi my name

**[3:23]** is pman head of product management at Advanced media uh we've been in the market since 2002 in UAE and in JCC Market um I'm responsible for Creative Solutions at Advanced media taking care of drone Solutions as a part of that um we started uh working with DJI closely and some other drone manufacturers since 2012 very happy to be here we got such a um a plethora of knowledge here that we're going to pick brains with today so we've got some very challenging questions some controversial so I hope everyone watching today is going to enjoy this session um I'm going to start off with h de I've got some really um interesting questions I'd like to ask you um and I think that's going to be technical side in the sense of when we consider best practices and when we talk about data security what are the best practices for drone

**[4:27]** dogs and uh you know which ones do you find most critical sure thanks for thanks Scot for that question it's before like answering the exact question I would like to kind of you know create a base for all the data security concerns that stem uh from these drone dock operations so one of the ways to think about it is the sensitiv sensitivity of the data so now if we are looking at the data which actually affects the operational control of the Drone that it has a very different ramification in terms of let's say the control link the C2 link gets hacked and somebody gets control over my drone while I'm just sitting remotely versus data which is more like media that is captured or the live video which is quite sensitive in some cases maybe because of its uh Public Safety operation that is actually capturing something like a real-time crime data which is going to be put

**[5:28]** it as a evidence in code and you know you don't want that data to be captured by anybody else so depending on the use case depending on what exactly the kind of data is the SE sity and the sensitivity of that data kind of changes and based on that also the active security measures to counter that also do change so there are two broad categories that we see one is data at rest and one is data while it is in transit and against both of those there are different measures that that we have to take uh I'll speak about data at rest First Data in transit is something uh you know I think there are some uh in in uh next few questions we can address data Transit as well so data data rest uh it is more like uh what happens to all the images videos that are captured on the Drone and when they are stored on the Drone and then stored on the doc and then we go to Cloud what happens to the data at each stage so on the

**[6:29]** DJ drone side as well as on the dock the data is encrypted so DJ has started this practice where the SD card is encrypted and only uh the owner of the uh drone can decrypt that SD card so even if the Drone you know somehow somebody gets access to the Drone they won't be able to pull out DD card and like start uh copying that data so that is one level where DJI has enabled from a hardware side at drone level the encryption of the data but what happens when the data data leaves the Drone do and goes to cloud or on a on Prem system that is where we have brought in lot of uh you know U interesting data security practices from existing Industries like banking like uh uh Finance other Industries we have brought those same practices here uh to encrypt that data at rest uh complying with the standards uh by government in so there also we see two diff uh you know two levels of uh data Protection One is when

**[7:32]** this data is just you know some utility asset data or anything there's one level of protection for evidence that is collected as a part of Public Safety operations uh there are even more uh standards and uh more like data security standards even storage standards that we adhere to which helps finally uh use save this data or store this data in a safe manner while adding to all those existing standards in public safety or in this case uh for regular asset inspection and we leverage lot of functionality provided by AWS uh Microsoft Azure as a cloud providers and lot of their encryption tools for that but finally the data is stored uh in Cloud as U SSL protected data so uh there is no way anybody can just get access to that okay so that that was quite a techn response and I think what you're trying to say is uh you're trying to mitigate Risk by using localized

**[8:35]** structures such as a US servers that are fully encrypted um that that's that's good to know I think there may be a lot of questions on this particular implementation of encryption um you must have encountered I would say quite a few challenges so can can you share those challenges when you first started to uh Implement a strategy with FlytBase um tell me about implementing encryption um for data transmission uh in particular drone docks because that's what we're talking about today what were your biggest challenges for this type of technology so a lot of challenges come from being working with uh drones and other systems for multiple vendors not all vendors for example in this case DJI is one of the manufacturers but there are also other drone manufacturers docking station manufacturers and everywhere the system that sending the data is also part of that chain which needs to be secured the doc uploads the data so we need to work on that side to ensure that when they support

**[9:39]** when they are pushing the data they're doing it over SSL supported Channel and not over a plane internet like a plane sdp connection so it the journey starts from there working with those systems has been mostly challenging in case of DJ do it was easier but in case of other docs we had to do a lot of original work support to manufacturers oems with the right tools with the right uh uh you know the right tools to upload their data in a safe Manner and when it comes to um U storing that data in cloud or on Prem systems most of that was not very challenging because these are typically solv problems in other other Industries it was uh quite uh you know I I would say the challenging part was to pick those standards uh uh implementation was not that that big great that like you know the challenging part of it the the most important aspect was identifying what level of data security would each industry need uh as I mentioned Public Safety needs it at a very different level so

**[10:39]** we're working with some uh really great government agencies and looking at their data standards for particularly evidence that is going to go to the court for you know as a part of a trial they have really stringent data data storage and encryption and you know all kind of regulations around that so understanding all of that was like you know all those requirements and bringing it together and creating that creating that platform where all of those requirements would be met I would say that was the most challenging part of it implementation not so much because this this has been done uh many times over in many Industries before this understood yeah so implementation is the is the easy part I think maybe extending your answer to this you could look at maybe the dynamic environments that are thrown to us depending on which part of the world determines the uh the solution that's provided in particular data security because that is I think number one priority pman will agree with me in this region in particular number one priority for many public

**[11:41]** safety agents it want control of that data so in in terms of that data how how would you say you better safeguard that um in and in particular for Public Safety I think there are many questions about data leaks now and you how people can get access to that data so how would you say that maybe FlytBase would prevent that data from leaking so in terms of you know um it's quite uh you know complex and dynamic scenario uh one of the important sources of data is the Drone and the dock itself because on the Drone the data is generated and then it is transmitted wirelessly from dog then it is uploaded to cloud or the onr systems so we see first of all uh the hardware itself as the first point where we want to make sure that Hardware is you know secured from outside attacks as well as uh given all

**[12:41]** the noise about uh data security concerns with the hardware itself uh making sure that the hardware is not able to send data to any unintended server so there are like both uh of those uh which are concerns primarily for us and we both we kind of tackle both uh using a special piece of Hardware uh we're coming with a special product uh soon it will be called flight based Shield where um we'll be uh protecting the dock uh from outside Network attacks uh it would be uh designed specially crafted uh system uh basically Network layer uh system which will figure out uh with all the advanced firewalls Etc will be able to protect against any unauthorized access to the doc from third parties as well as it will uh ensure that the hardware is sending the data to the only intended server be the on print server or the Cloud Server so that would ensure that uh yeah I think uh

**[13:46]** what might be be good for end users and for clients looking to use this is to to see where that data is going to have a a tangible maybe a physical way of of of showcasing that that data and where it is going because I think we might all agree in this this panel today that there are major concerns about data security and we all want to know exactly what is being done with that data and it's good to hear uh FlytBase are implementing a strategy FlytBase shield which will Implement a rigid structure to prevent that data leaking on top of what the manufacturer for example DJI already offer as one example a local data mode for their product um but essentially this is really important and I'm going to probably touch on the subject again uh with our other panelists um because I think it's very important for this region but Chris I want to to turn to you at this point and I want to find out more about uh drone dock utilization in Arkansas and North America can you tell me a bit more about the

**[14:47]** utiliz who are using these docks in your experience yeah thanks SC I think here in in the United States specifically there's two industries and they happen to be two of the same industries that start started even the manual operations industry and that's Public Safety and energy um you know there's a there's a tangible value to drones and then you plug that drone in 247 and you put it in a weatherproof box on top of a fire station that value grows exponentially right so there's a clear value to life and property uh in public safety and so we've already deployed uh we' We've deployed about exactly 29 DJI docs so far and the line share of those are in public safety we do have some implementations in energy as well uh specifically for solar inspections right if you can take a a large solar farm and instead of having to have your operations and maintenance technicians go out and manually fly it pulling them away from actually managing the solar farm and in some cases these large battery implementations Etc um you're able to get a lot more value out of that so you know Arkansas unfortunately we haven't deployed anything here although if there's any Arkansas agencies online

**[15:50]** you know how to reach me uh they probably already already know who we are and are working with us elsewhere but um we've got implementations in New York Texas Michigan California and Nevada uh let's see we got some in New Jersey Etc so they're all over the country and then the two industries that we're seeing them most often used and and like I said it's where the industry kind of exploded here in the US is Public Safety and energy and then within Public Safety specifically we're talking drones as first responder dfr kind of a buzzword these days where these DJI docs at least in our case currently are being implemented and integrated directly with CAD systems uh CAD would be a computerated dispatch um and so you're able to you know have a 911 call come in we're already getting that address I'm a former dispatcher so I still say we uh we're getting that information through 911 the address is on our screen and instead of putting a whole run card together um or I guess I should say even before a run card is put together a run card would be Balian Chief engine ambulance that drone the dock is already opening the Drone is going up it's flying

**[16:50]** to that scene and it's getting that initial eyes on and that's just one example of that immediate tangible value uh to protecting life and property in the public safety industry yeah Chris thanks that's invaluable and I think you touched up on the point that I wanted to raise with you it's about access of that data and uh speed and efficiencies is number one when you're rescuing people when you're saving lives and in particular fire Rescuers you're seeing they want uh fast access to that data so so how do you balance the uh desire or the demand for uh access of data very quickly and also balance that that uh data security how do you protect that data but how do you get access to it very quickly got got any thoughts on that I've got more thoughts that we can go over in the next uh what are we at 42 minutes left and I got I got to save room for Vic and the other Gentleman on here um I would say that we rely on software Partners uh you know even after we've chosen the right Hardware which in our case in our opinion right now DJI docs are are one of several um really proven sort of natively secure systems if you will I'll get into that more

**[17:52]** in a second but we rely on those software providers and and Dage did a great job of sort of explaining what that looks like and it's it's encryption on both sides both there locally uh while the data is at rest even an on-prem scenario where we have an on premise device whether that's flight Bas Shield or if the uh the customer wants to install their own compute module however they want to do that the beauty of the DJI doc specifically and I could talk most intelligently about that because we've deployed so many of them is it comes out of the box with the ability to connect to anything so if the customer's a Microsoft customer you can connect it to Microsoft Azure AWS whatever else you need any other custom bucket and so we rely on those software providers you you nailed it when you said that not only is the information critical but we actually need to see the video which is arguably probably the most sensitive component of a dfr program if I'm a dispatcher and I'm sitting here in front of my screens and I can't uh reliably or quickly see that video the Drone does me no good on scene um and so encryption uh in transmit as well as in at rest um SSL certificates are a great way to do that you know the DJI docs and the DJI Hardware

**[18:55]** is already aes256 encrypted uh Dage hit on a right sort of right away is there there is some risk of that connection being compromised and being either listened to by somebody else or or perap perhaps even taking control but that's almost entirely mitigated with the encryption technology that's in place uh natively with DJI you combine that with let's say FlytBase in this case who has an S so to type two um you know compliant infrastructure so now you know that your Hardware is transmitting securely you have AES encryption which everything else in our world is using AES it's the industry standard that data is now safe it's going from dock to drone securely when that data comes back or even real time through that dock up to a flight-based cloud now it's encrypted over SSL SSL is something that we've been using it's in the industry right it's why there's https right so we're leveraging all these industry Standard Security protocols and really at the end of the day a DJI doc or anything else is just another iot device I've probably got 20 of them in my in my office here it's just another connected device and so it's absolutely

**[19:58]** critical that we have these conversations how can we take a DJI doc or any other connected device and connect it securely and we do that by choosing the right hardware and combining it with the right software and of course doing and I I assume a question's coming is how do you verify these things how do you make sure the firmware updates aren't compromised but you do that by properly managing and updating your infrastructure in a timely manner yeah those are fair points to be honest Chris I think AES and SSL is uh a standard requirement is in particular for Public Safety um I assume then what you mean by the the ability of it it being very similar as other iot things and um with that in mind would you say that in terms of auditing your security and measuring say frequency and uh con Conformity to to International standards uh would you say that falls in line is is it just as easy to uh conduct an audit for the DJI doc as it would be for your iPad tablet Peres what what processes would be in place for that

**[21:01]** yeah it's a great question I I would argue and and Dage is the is the technical expert here so he can correct me if I'm wrong but I would argue that it's it's easier to audit the activity the connections that your DJI doc or another Doc is making through FlytBase then it is for me to make sure that my iPad didn't just download a bad update through some random app that I downloaded you look at Teemu Tik Tok Facebook LinkedIn twitch X Twitter whatever all these apps are just running everywhere I've got I use a Mac I mean I've got apps all over the place so I have an easier job of identifying and isolating any traffic going to or from my DGI doc or any infrastructure and that could be one doc that could be a thousand docs it doesn't matter um FlytBase I can speak specifically we've been working with FlytBase for a number of years it is incredibly easy to go through the logs whether that's on a recurring basis setting up triggers uh whether that just you know pipes another feet of data through an existing audit program a lot of these Public Safety agencies they obviously do hold a lot of evidence right so there's got to be some some security protocols in there to check access to certain things the

**[22:03]** DJI do is yet another uh data feed or or any other dock through FlytBase that's that's the beauty of the agnostic approach is you've got one central location you have all of your IP addresses you have all your connection protocols you can see it all right in front of you on the screen to make sure that that data is being protected that it's not being accessed nefariously and you also have that native Peace of Mind of s SO2 type 2 compliance leveraging Microsoft Azure or WS rather than the probably 40 apps I have on my iPad some I probably forgot that I even downloaded that are just on automatic update that can just run all day long updating with no notification to me of a potential issue um and then even if you look at the firmware side right so we I have been a proponent you'll see me comment on Facebook and answer questions everybody will ask the day of a firmware update is it update can I update should I update can I update is it okay can I update guys that just came out yesterday I had a text message from a fire department in California yesterday who noticed that the DGI M3 was updated on February 22nd This Is Us time so that was two days ago I said don't why would you update today why would you why

**[23:05]** would you be the first one right you just take your time you put in good processes and protocols maybe you have a demo environment you rely on Partners like uvt we've got our own Fleet of docs we're going to be updating on day one day two day three let us break it and then come to you and put you on on that most recent firmware and then of course leveraging FlytBase to say hey we're seeing issues globally right I can speak to the United States and North America FlytBase can speak globally so if they say hey we're seeing an issue they're going to let us know that and we can tell our customers to hold off until till somebody fixes it yeah that's that's a good point actually Chris I I was going to ask you about how you would what strategy you would Implement to update the doc and I think it's the same when you're updating NVIDIA drivers for your computer and you get a a green screen per say or blue screen it's um are you willing to to take those first steps to to ensure that your clients um have Security in using it so your your advice would be just update straight away or would it to be take some time and wait for the professionals to do it and then advise yeah I mean I think it it it depends right if there's if there's a firmer

**[24:06]** update that's solving a problem that you're having or something like that then of course go ahead and update and honestly our partners are so good about involving our customer base and trying to resolve these issues like we we had a small bug with one of our DJI docs we had all the engineers from DJI they're North American Solutions Engineers my sales rep everybody was involved we were testing and then they finally released it so rest assured that as an end user as a customer a lot of testing is going on behind the scenes my my recommendation to the end user is don't update on day one unless that update solves a problem that you're having implements a new security feature Etc DJI in recent history has not released a forced firmware update I'm not aware of any manufacturer that's released a forc firmware update because at the end of the day we're operating in the aviation industry right so the last thing they want to do is release something that they just hit a button on a server and then a new release note PDF goes up and a zip file that you you have to use and have that potentially ground or have an issue with your system so I would encourage people to take your time leverage the partners that you're working with talk to your

**[25:06]** software providers talk to your dealer even you know engage with the community ask questions on Facebook LinkedIn get involved in these groups where you have other like-minded individuals this panel is a great example we've got North America we've got uh Dubai with with Scott and pedman and then we've got India with Dage this is a great user base right here build these communities amongst yourselves and talk to others that are using it uh I am not a day one update guy even with apple who I have immense trust in I'm I'm letting a few million users hit that update button and then I'm watching the Apple Community that's oh that's weird your camera broke guess I'll update next week when Apple fixes it uh hey man yeah I hear you on that I think uh it's important to to uh take a risk sometimes I think your your answer is valid to a certain point Chris but I think what I wanted to approach was um look at the CCP drone Act uh countering CCP drone act that's just been uh you know released by America uh I think it's HR 2864 isn't it appropriately named the the problem this

**[26:11]** this generates in particular for drone based doc technology is uh there are National Security concerns people are concerned about data where is it going yes we have software Provisions we have software updates that mitigates any um new protocols that have been introduced by people trying to sift that data trying to gain access whether that's from governments abroad or whether that's from uh software companies or whether that's from uh individuals because wherever wherever there are individuals there may be malice there may be intent to take that data um with that in mind give an example the DJI docy how how does that solution address National concerns in particular America considering this act that's in place it's more rhetorical than anything else you know we've already answered it but I think many people may want to ask that specific question yeah well uh I know Vic and I have heard countering CCP more times than we than we care to hear and hopefully it goes away at some point but yeah so so what Scott's talking about is is house resolution

**[27:13]** HR 2864 which is the countering CCB drones act uh you know just for everybody in the US it hasn't passed there was one of the first hearings just happened uh about a week ago and at the end of the day you know that that act like just about every single one that's passed in our anti- DJI anti-china and really drone Centric laws and and bills and legislation it does nothing to protect American data security it doesn't address data security at all it says oh is that made by it doesn't even say that it's a drone necessarily is that is that device made by DJI remote controller payload camera you know drone whatever oh it is okay and then it's bad that alone is is way too shortsighted right you're you're basing all all these rules and regulations on where that device came from the country of origin I'm using an iPhone as my webcam for example this iPhone was made by foxcon technology in Shenzhen China is that a problem it's not it's looking at my face it's hearing me it's seeing my room it's seeing everything about me so if that's not a concern why is the act

**[28:16]** worried about another piece of technology that comes out of China in DJI products I'll bring you back to what I said earlier you it's all about an iot connected device that's what we're using all these devices are connected to the internet why does one device that comes from one company pose a greater threat than another device out of the same country um and so speaking specifically the DJI doc you know with the way that act is written the fact that it doesn't take into account all the native security features all the encryption all the SSL certificates that Dage has talked about that we use to connect this device even the fact that you can put there's a little cabinet on the DJI doc you can install your own computer inside of that device but if you read from our lovely federal government they're basically saying yeah that doesn't matter because you know even if you have a secure box well it's talking to that DJI thing and you know then your device could be compromised it's absolutely foolish legislation because it does not take into account the data security of Americans we need legislation and I I dare I say globally we need legislation that promotes any device being able to connect securely any device that

**[29:19]** you plug in to my wall to my Wi-Fi must be connected in a secure Manner and turns out we've been connecting DJI devices to infrastructures networks across the globe for over 12 years now and it's been perfectly safe with zero proven issue um I you know I could go on I'm gonna I'm going to end there and let you let you guide the conversation because I get pretty fired up a kind of worms Chris it's a kind of worms and you know what I'd see a lot of synergy in what you're saying there give me concussive proof that you know we're seeing this St going to you know going wanting and I I agree with you I think uh we we got to really put this in the mindsets of those that are using this technology to save lives and you know doc technology has been used in certain instances to save people's lives and what's more important to the legislators is it that principle or is it the uh First Responders losing the ability to use this technology in turn to save those lives and I'm I'm very passionate about that I've been working with this manufacturer for nearly 11 years now and I think um if I had any concerns what I continue to believe in in you know

**[30:24]** working with this type of Technology um I would say otherwise I wouldn't be here right now so ultimately it it is a very controversial topic I really wanted to ask you this Chris because I know you're heavily involved and Vic you're heavily involved in this as well with your uh your discussions and panels and and other areas which I'll introduce at some point but um pesman and I in this region we have similar concerns uh primarily from Public Safety and I think um I speak for myself but I'm going to let pesman uh speak for EMT and his experiences shortly um first and foremost in this region when we speak about doc technology whether that is DJI or whether that are the solutions that we've been trying to implement for many years now uh data must be secured data must be local um and there is no compromise so one thing to mention I think this technology is ahead of its time in the sense that the the background or the the uh server based protection is not to the standards

**[31:26]** that are required to to manage the Hardware yet so AWS servers aren't really capable to to offer that local centralized data capability to the level to which the client wants so what are the clients doing the clients are building their own infrastructure uh bespoke infrastructure so we're trying to work with software providers as you mentioned Chris to to create that b bis bespoke solution and uh that's been our biggest challenge to dat it's it's upskilling and its understanding how this technology works but also how it can integrate into the ecosystem system um and you know there's no one who knows it more than pesman because uh he's on the uh the hard end of the stick so to speak so pesman is eyes and ears in terms of Public Safety in particular Dubai um pesman I want to ask you a question on this because it's You Know It's Tricky for for yourself and myself integrating this technology in the Middle East I feel that we are a bit behind the rest of the world in terms of legislation awareness capability upskilling these are great challenges for us by the way but can you um per say we're talking about these physical

**[32:31]** challenges uh before um can you tell me about uh Public Safety Partners in the Middle East you know how effective have they been in preventing an authorized access into the data from Doc technology absolutely you know I was following all the conversation as since the beginning and I believe as you mentioned we have totally different experiences when it comes comes to North America even China or different regions because it depends where this technology is coming where the manufacturer is based or where the cloud is based um when it comes to our region specifically because everything is kind of or or most of things are imported the technology is imported and everything is located in different uh part of the world uh the hardware is coming from China the cloud might be coming from us or somewhere else the concerns are even more when it comes to uh law enforcement or security departments um the first drone in the box

**[33:37]** that we introduced uh in the market uh was uh um actually requested by Dubai Police we presented in gitex 2018 it was a French technology we brought it and since then the challenges started actually we were involved in those challenges where to install how to secure it how to protect it um as of the today and since then it's like almost six years uh that I can say like four years sorry that we are U involved in this challenge um all the time because they wanted to make sure everything is in their hand all the installation whatever happened were in their premises so physically they were in inside the police base or like a civil defense base or like their own premises that are very much secured in different layers of security

**[34:39]** um the another project that we have in hand which is not yet delivered I will tell you uh the other challenges um but we started the construction and the it was asked uh for several different things you know enforce the steel fencing around the um concrete base security cameras of this and that too many layers of security to just make sure nobody's even getting close uh to the dock um on top of all the Securities that are mentioned by Dr and we know all from DJI or different manufacturers AES 128 256 all the encryptions and everything still there there are two too many protections from the uh physical uh drones and physical dot not to get access by the unauthorized people you think uh that's that's a problem isn't it here bman they they don't want

**[35:43]** to risk uh anyone penetrating these security protocols and in particular the middle EAS and in I would say UE and Dubai in particular they want this to be the safest place on the planet so for many of the these Public Safety agents they they're concerned about uh what constitutes as as sensitive data and in particular on drone docks when they're not manned they're remote albeit they have physical edifices surrounding them cameras as you mentioned fences walls constructions to uh prevent those outside accessing that data um what what uh steps are taken to minimize the collection and storage of that data so the physical storage of that information say on the aircraft itself or how do you collect that data but how are they managing that in your experience um actually when when it comes when we talk about the the data security we have to see who is the user I mean when you are a a construction company when you

**[36:47]** work in a AC you may not concern about that okay you have a a drone to be operated manually or a dock you have on the site to be flown every other day or every other week to go around and take some photos or videos to see the progress you don't mind if even one person somebody can break into it but when you are a police when you are a loow enforcement then not only the photos videos are important for you but also even the the Telemetry or the the the roots or the the heat map of the Drone flying is important so um our our first uh U proposal to to police was okay we can just save all the photos and videos when when when it coming when it's coming to the doc operation we save everything on the local uh storage on your own server

**[37:48]** but let the communication and the other rest of the protocols happening as it is on the cloud or or based on the the current system and they didn't accept um just strictly they said even the data even the control even the Telemetry nothing should be going out of their remises so therefore they wanted to save and to to keep everything on their own server so they they they don't want Cloud but they want the ability to use cloud but they they want that accessible only locally that's that's been the biggest demand you would say uh that's the challenge about it's a very big challenge actually not only they don't allow a cloud I'm I'm talking about the the highest level of security when we talk about uh the police specifically or like of the security departments who are taking care of like very u high risky uh premises

**[38:50]** so not only they don't allow the access to the cloud but also they don't um allow any access to the inter internet so all the communications everything should be through the internet their private Network all the SIM cards which are provided are uh based on the uh the private even cellular network the fiber optics all the connections everything so therefore you don't have access I mean as a software manufacturer the hardware okay is there but for the communication and the software or the system behind um this is the challenge that we are working on like hand to hand with FlytBase in last couple of month DJ is doing his best and his team of course um to just you know make the system independent from all the resources and components which are available on internet you know you have to invent the Wheel from the scratch you know because you don't have any of them you're just laugh

**[39:53]** because I know how much the challenges had so no no Cloud no internet nothing everything should be secured within the their own private Network and connections that comes with the territory doesn't it it's and deash it comes with the territory here we want something that's blind but also serves as a pizza and you know Diet Coke yeah good good analogy yeah like just to add a bit there you know initially when pagean came up with this like we need it without internet and I was like why do you even want to use it without internet because the real power is in when it is connected right you you take uh in iot it's like internet right you take out that internet out of the object the uh things and then you know it just becomes things uh when they're not connected but iorry iot without I yeah iot without I yeah OT so so like but I think those a lot of those concerns are quite real

**[40:58]** because it's not just uh Middle East uh lot of critical organizations in us as well for that matter utility companies those who have had lot of cyber attacks on them for the critical infrastructure they are also thinking about adding all this technology only in on Prem air gaap mode not in like Internet connected they don't want that because doesn't matter how much security you add if they have that you know link with external network they think you know back of the mind since it's a billion dollar infrastructure they think that it can be you know hijacked or anything so that is why they don't want to do that and uh catering to those I think concerns that these Enterprises have is the key to taking this technology forward that is what is going to give the peace of mind to these users so yes on Prem doing completely air gap deployments and also in some cases in country Cloud deployments for just data regulation these are not data security conss but more like data

**[41:59]** regulations uh for example UAE doesn't want any data to go out uh even on us data servers or us EU data servers similarly EU UK also has a lot of those similar concerns they don't want data to be hosted on us servers sorry to interrupt not not even us Cloud but also we um we talked about the local uh cloud provider which is also from the government but also even that was rejected yeah yeah yeah of course yeah you're pretty dry and uh capability here it's very tricky for you to to manage the expectations of the clients yet also implement this strategy of using uh drone duct technology I think again yeah that is where the challenging part is but uh I think as a technology provider we had to rise up to the expectations that customers have so that they can have that peace of mind everybody wants they're very

**[43:00]** very positive about the technology it just that they want in a manner where their jobs are not at risk nobody's going to come and in audit question them why did you do this Etc so uh I believe as a software provider we are able to do some of that uh uh took a long time but I think with pagean we are able to uh you know do some good work there yes I think it's important actually to find the Champions within the businesses people who are willing to risk and put forward this technology to develop it after all this technology has been developed at the risk of no legislation in place in some instances there's no BB loss and you know it's not really mandated anywhere I can speak for America I can speak for Europe I can speak for the Middle East and and far Asia as well in the sense that baby loss is something that's still on the horizon we have individual use cases we're actually developing it right now in Dubai with Dubai future foundations start trying to set a BV lofs application um there are instances but it's not widespread so the technology has kind of come

**[44:00]** before the legislation can react and uh we've been saying this for a long time legislation is slow to react so hopefully by us discussing this more I I always believe in reiterating repeating relaxing the three Rs that's uh my ethos and life the more you do it the more you get the message across um and Vic I think um I really want to you know pick your brains here because you are heavily you're steeply involved in legislative regulation in terms of discussions in the states UAV law news you're director of legislative affairs at uas Colorado there are just some of the examples so you talk about uh this technology and you know what challenges are presented um if you are drafting regulations and say what are those challenges compared to Mand drones what what's the difference between a dock and a mandr um it's it's kind of interesting it's it's similar but different um I love being on this panel one I'm probably learning more than I'm going to ever teach here um it's

**[45:01]** data security is not my not my baileywick um but it it's fun to be able to have to get in here and look into this stuff so on the regulatory side of things um I utilized some of my sources uh went out and I reached out to the fa waiver office one of my contacts there and said look what's what's on the horizon um and at this point they're not planning on anything doc specific at the at the federal level uh we already have regulations in in effect under part 107 which is the commercial operation as long as you stay under that 55 pound or 25 kilo uh payload limit that they're they care about things like um Ops over people you can be flying over people uh Ops over moving Vehicles Beyond visual line of sight speaking of the Holy gril BB loss um that's the things they care about but when it comes to dra uh doc specific type stuff weather and pre-flight really take center stage on on on a waiver type waiver application for this type of operation um one of the things we're supposed to do as remote 107 Pilots is uh inspect our aircraft before it flies every single time

**[46:05]** um how are you going to do that remotely how you going to be able to push a button um so they need to be they want that satisfied the fa wants that satisfied um what's the weather like hey you know what you're in you're in Arkansas and I'm in Denver and uh you know Chris has a has a project here he's not going to hire me to go out and check the weather I don't have to look out my window go yeah Chris go fly it's fine you have to be able to do that kind of stuff but the fa also understands that the the technology has much much more in front of the uh you know has developed much faster than regulatory ability and they'll do things like accept remote cameras uh to be able to do those kinds of things um and honestly they aren't really wanting to do a doc specific set of regulations because there are regulations already in place that can handle what we need it to do and they don't really care hear that much about data either um you know the FAA is a safety and excuse me excuse me a safety and Education Agency they're not an enforcement agency they're not a data agency

**[47:07]** they're not a privacy agency um but one of the things we've talked about is what about the C2 link the command and control link the FAA at some point is very likely going to say hey you know what that needs to be secure because that is now a safety issue if you have your C2 link hacked hey guess what there goes your $100,000 if you have one of the bigger ones um flying away somewhere and that's a security issue and that's a safety issue and that's what the fa really cares about um we do have an agency called the national tele telecommunications and Information Administration tcia um they did put out a suggested set of data security for personal data um will that likely end up as you know in regulation somewhere either via the Department of Commerce um or the FAA probably and actually I'll even go as far as say I hope so uh because this stuff definitely needs to be addressed at the

**[48:07]** federal and the state level regulation is definitely definitely behind behind technology as always okay interesting yeah I think um it's a good point there actually in the sense that the regulatory bodies aren't that interested in the uh micromanagement of the type of Technologies but we are so there's a disconnect there would you say Vic and you say there's a disconnect there in terms of uh what this technology can do and their interest in that technology could there also be misconceptions as to why they don't want to use this technology why they are concerns about data security because they're not well informed they're not interested so they don't want to know um I don't think the FAA doesn't want to know so um you know I think that's that's kind of a Seer um they definitely want to know because again it's all about safety it's all about education um but I think when it comes to the public perception of the Drone in the Box the docks that kind of stuff

**[49:07]** um we are in a very good place as an industry to get out in front of things get out in front of the get out in front of the fears um get out in front of the data security things um that the general public in general cares about you know is is my data is my personal data secure as a delivery let's say it's a delivery drone that's in a box um or even a security drone you know where's my personal data is that secure in the past as an industry here especially in the United States we've had to play catchup you know people see drones like oh no we have to go in and say no it's okay it's okay it's okay and we're we're always being pro reactive instead of proactive I think when it comes to docs we can really get out in front of the general public and get out in front of big business who might use these things and say look this is how it's going to work and this is where it's going to be good so I think we're in a good place um either regulatory or even um you know Public Public Relation wise for Doc use in the United

**[50:11]** States yeah okay that's a good point what about your organization then so if you're using doc technology what are your data security practices so you know you say yeah we're reactive are we just reacting or you being proactive in that sense as well well I don't use docs um I'll leave that I'll leave Chris out that's Chris's thing so you want a doc yeah call Chris I I have no desire to work in the doc sphere thank you very very much um but personally my data security um you know I have do thing I have to do some things like some of the places I I shoot a photographer videographer that's what I do some of the places I shoot I have to be careful of the imagery we were at Denver Inter National Airport we flew uh inside the terminal about three weeks ago for the new security systems there and um we had to tick a lot of boxes we had had to cross a lot of tees we had to dot a lot of eyes and we have to make sure that the security what we're showing isn't out in public uh personal data for my clients and that kind of thing it's all kept it's all kept secure that kind of thing but when it comes to the docks of that use it's I'm not using it per se um Colorado

**[51:14]** is not looking into it uh either they we do have you know just like California other states we do have our personal data privacy regulations but um personally myself no I'm not going to be using Docs but um I see it happening I think it's going to grow pretty quickly um once this once we get this uh get this up and running faster what what is your perception you're not using duck technology but what is your perception of it because you are an operator and you like to be in charge of that aircraft so this in a sense is disruptive technology it's maybe taking away that necessity for an operator in certain instances it won't take away all of that it's a another string to the Boven organization per see um I want to start off with you I'm going to ask everyone actually we can close this conversation what are your perception of Doc technology and how can security concerns be addressed I'll start off with you Vic um my perception is uh it's it's going to be it's going to be uh

**[52:15]** vertical specific here in Colorado we've got you know we've got ranchers and Cattlemen and and Farmers their D their doc technology stuff and their security is going to be so much different than you know just few miles down the street from me have a federal prison you know a few more few miles further we have a high Security Federal Prison some of the worst of the worst of the worst live in my state right now luckily under lock and key um uh their their data security is going to be a lot different than mine absolutely and uh it's very very vertical specific um in that I'm not sure I answered your question on that I apologize oh it's a really tough question to ask I just want your honest opinion what do you think of Doc technology do you like it do you not like it I love it I love it um it's I don't think it will it take some jobs yes I think so um I think at DJ who said something maybe it was Chris talked about the solar Fields yeah it's going to it's going to make it much easier to fly a solar field every single day you know Sol you know panel number 7A isn't working push the button go check it you know let's let's let's throw it up and check it but um I think it's going to add jobs on the on the on the margin I think

**[53:19]** it's going to create more use cases absolutely um and I don't think it's I don't think it's going to take jobs it's be disruptive but I think it's going to be disruptive in a good way disruption is not always bad yeah I've been saying this for a long time people worry that drones are going to take jobs I think they're just going to rescale people I think you're going to enjoy your job more by using drone technology but the dock mitigates the use of that person but then you can res skill that person to work in a command center so again it's not taking away jobs it it's just diverting them changing them challenging us exactly it's challenging isn't it pman would you agree with that with that statement um actually you know I cannot argue that the doc is a game changer you know especially when it comes to the first respond um for the data for the law enforcement um there are lots of scenarios that when we are presenting the technology to the law enforcement and to the security departments that you

**[54:23]** cannot do it with with the manual operation if you have a drone and you have it in the patrol car you cannot do it so there are too many scenarios that can be um deployed only with the do so definitely it's a game changer Chris what do you think you are the man who uses the docks a lot as Vic said so other than pman incredibly difficult challenges it seems like your uh use of docks are somewhat less limited yeah so I think I was actually just drafting a comment here through that I'll just say it right I'll say that uh that drone docks absolutely will the question was to me right Scott yeah okay I just want to make sure I got I got it kind of excited on the comment that's right okay um drone docs and Robotics will absolutely create jobs all these systems do is they is they move the human to the human element of any job that we're doing the human element is not the the dull the dirty and the dangerous let the robots drones handle

**[55:26]** that and even the mundane I would add right that's the dull part of that uh you know drones and robots are good at repetitive tasks humans are historically and statistically not good at repetitive tasks we need to think we need to improve we need to innovate um and I think you know also kind of to the to the Drone security piece I was going to interject earlier it seems like people forget that all a cloud is is a server in a highly secured infrastructure in a closet right it's the same server that I have in my my closet over here that's the cloud for me right I can access that from anywhere so um but D to your question I think my perspective is drone docks and and Robotics as a whole but drone docks specifically are going to absolutely change the way the world works there's there's no question about it I don't care who makes the Drone U that you're talking about who makes the dock you're talking about they're absolutely going to change the way the world works it's going to free up humans it's going to protect humans whether that's through dfr programs or keeping a human off of a 1,000 foot Tower to inspect a light bulb or to make sure that a cable has not been disconnected they will absolutely change the world and I

**[56:27]** think um they're they're easy to connect in a secure manner just like everything else in our lives has been connected and it's going to take conversations like this with very talented professionals like I've been joined with on this panel to to lead that charge and to educate and and I appreciate everybody having us here I appreciate that Chris I think it's true I think we're all nodding our heads furiously here I think it's the most nodding we've done this session so far and of course Testament to the expansion of jobs and capabilities in this uh specific section within the Drone industry is derage himself FlytBase are here primarily because the utilization of Doc technology I would say you might disagree but I think one of the biggest utilizations for flight-based software Solutions are through doc technology so that's a argument uh sewn and wrapped up there you know it's there there are new opportunities uh there are new avenues whether direct or subsidiary that are applicable to this dock technology so we we are I'm going to ask you D you know your opinion but for myself to finish on uh what I think of this I think uh I

**[57:30]** agree full heartedly with what Chris mentioned it's goingon to add jobs it's going to add new skills uh today's generation are very diff difficult different to even my generation uh there are a lot more into iot they're a lot more into technology and of course this Technologies is disruptive of the means as which they are communicating so I think what is happening now is you're seeing a lot of maybe generational uh Mis misconception and this in the sense that doc technology is disruptive it's Innovative it's uh it's ticking all the boxes in terms of security but I think those are not um maybe as as skilled in this this area of the industry understand that it is going to take all these boxes it is is going to add security it is going to add more capability it's going to remove uh the incompetencies I think that's a bit harsh I'm going to say um human factor in elements um but it's going to add new skills you get where I'm coming from sorry there is a SAT um d d tell me what do you think about doc

**[58:35]** technology what you know what how would you end this session in terms of what you think about what we discussed today yeah so just I agree with uh what everybody kind of put together uh but I have a slightly different take what I see is you know it's not going to be just new skills uh fundamentally with docks drones will be operating at a really huge scale so until now drones have found use cases in many Industries but you haven't seen real scale of that yet fundamental factor is the human limit which is how many train Pilots can you have how many of those train Pilots are going to up at 2 2 a.m. when there is a Burkle or when there is a you know alarm call that goes on a 911 call center so that human factor is now going to be removed now it is going to be even like huge number of drones that will be powered through dogs will be taking to the skies every night every day all around the day and that is going to create many more jobs because then then there won't be like take any city in the US

**[59:39]** any major city how many drones do you see flying every day that number would go many multifolds and that is where new jobs will be created that is where a lot of Maintenance lot of other stuff will be required on top of that so it's not just new skills it's also the new scale that is going to bring in I would say we would see even more people joining the Drone industry with that that is how I believe and the other important thing is we'll have to be you know it is going to take it's a gradual Journey uh we will have to emphatically understand the data security and other concerns of users the decision makers and work with them give them you know I I think Scott I I like the word that you use tangible visualization of where the data is going so that they understand whether whatever the concerns around data going to unnecessary servers are they true not true what is happening through their security so those are some of the you know Amazing Ideas that we had to work on and uh kind of you know get those users early adopters on this bandwagon and I believe

**[1:00:43]** uh you know this technology is truly going to revolutionize door industry that I I have a lot of bias there because that's what we at FL base have been working on for about 10 years now uh but I think uh work like listening to all of you today uh that kind of you know strengths my belief in the same story again yeah thank you let's just hope this is the end of the beginning and the start of a new Industrial Revolution the revolution of drone technology and its implementation across all walks of life for a good reason and uh I think all of us in this panel today are stout Believers and using this technology to improve processes to improve workflows to save lives to capture better data and also to do that um not discreetly but uh with security um and also with uh the ability to to make sure that data does not get in the wrong hands and we're doing all we can to manage that in each of our Avenues and and areas and regions within the world so I want to thank you very much

**[1:01:44]** for your inputs today gentlemen it's been an absolute pleasure speaking to you um I'm honored you got so much experience uh so I'm learning a lot as well uh V pman Chris De thank you so for your uh your discussions today very insightful