In August 2021, a couple of great media articles were published. One by The Future of The Ocean and one by The Maritime Executive.
Delighted to see them get such wide coverage, and thousands of impressions on Social Media.
The article on How did Somali Pirates get paid, trended on the front page for days.
Do travel risk management Apps give you a false comfort as a risk manager? – I believe they can do.
What good is your travel risk management App if the Government pulls the plug on the telecoms infrastructure?
Over the past year in Africa we have seen governments consistently shutting down mobile comms, mobile internet and even landline internet and international telecoms in the event of a major incident. This often happens with no notice. There are several reasons why they might do this, but recently a lot of them have centred around limiting social media spreading of both information and mis-information. Media outlets are throttled and insurgents or opposition parties lose the ability to communicate. Whatever the reason, it’s the other individuals in the area that lose the ability to communicate, get cut off and as a result can become more exposed to any danger.
Look at Cabo Delgado in Northern Mozambique right now. How about Uganda and Tanzania during the last elections. Look at targeted disruptions in Ethiopia during the Tigray crisis, and finally, the recent tragedy in Afghanistan. In all of these incidents not only are the at risk individuals desperately trying to get a message out, but support teams are trying to get messages and help in.
A travel risk management app, has its place during the planning phase perhaps, advising travellers on the potential risks. But, corporations and individuals are kidding themselves if they think that an App is really going to help in the event of a major crisis. Sure, it can be one of the response mechanisms, but organisations that rely solely on that as an option, feeling that they have fulfilled their duty of care as a result would in my mind simply be negligent.
Are you really going to depend on an app or a mobile phone for a medevac? Can you get through to the ‘global response centre’ from a mobile phone? How are you getting your alerts and updates if the internet is shut down? That emergency response vehicle from a third party contractor that’s based in the Capital city 1000 KM from the scene really is not going to hit any meaningful response times. That very fancy real time active tracking system in your pocket fails along with your ‘mobile panic button’. – Unless of course it’s satellite based.
Travel Risk Management needs a much deeper approach, especially when you work in new frontiers, in countries where you may not have any other support mechanisms and when you are really remote.
Consider;
But without doubt, given the long list above, training staff before they deploy has to be one of the priorities. I am not talking about a one hour online module as a tick box exercise. Depending on the exposure for the individuals and the risk, there must be a mechanism for practical face to face training. That training needs to be theatre specific. Why train for kidnap for ransom, if you as a traveller are going to face a civil unrest risk.
Most importantly, employees must feel confident traveling. Those that are savvy enough to not be conducting ‘business tourism’ will understand that the travel should only be done when absolutely required. Line managers need to be firm and also challenge the need for the additional exposure. If the travel simply has to happen, then the traveller has to feel that they are sufficiently prepared to be able to solve any problems on their own! Its the travellers life, so empower them to solve the problem, or at least not make any major mistakes in the event that no immediate support can come from elsewhere if all comms go down.
An individual needs to know when to stand fast in place, or when to run. The traveller must also have sufficient confidence to able to turn around and say ‘No! This isn’t safe,’ and the organisation that they work for needs to support them in that decision.
If your organisation thinks that the above is too much in terms of time and resources, then you have to challenge whether the organisation should be considering operating in that environment in the first place.
Luckily for me, I work for one of the best organisations in the world now when it comes to safety. How do you feel about yours?
The availability of commercial drones, for drone attacks, with new off the shelf ‘package’ release technology should give us pause for thought.
This equipment has been far to easy to weaponize and needs to be regulated with effective controls immediately.
A lot of this new drone technology is truly awesome in the right hands, and has many practical uses.
A a risk manager I am deeply concerned about the lack of controls that are needed to reduce the risks from this technology.
Firstly, take a look at this video by ‘Newsy’. Its four years old and shows what ISIS are already doing with simple commercial drones.
Lets create a hypothetical, but realistic example. During one of these drone attacks, a swarm of thirty or forty drones, each with 10 one kilogram explosive devices and a high resolution live feed camera. They hover in a swarm high above a city, a large industrial complex or a piece of national critical infrastructure. The devices cause huge loss of life and damage to property, impacting far beyond their simple costs of a few thousand pounds each.
As the swarm pilot, I control the drones via a laptop from a long way away. I pass individual drones off to the ‘pilots,’ also based in another country. They control the final attacks via the web whilst I get the drones into the approximate location.
Its all highly efficient. As a simple technician, I unload the drones and make them ready out on a country road or disused location about five kilometres away from the incident site. I am long gone by the time the incident is underway.
Once the incident starts, the response teams arrive, to find some of those devices are still loitering and dropping their deadly ordinance. How far out do you set a cordon when the drones can travel at up to 50 miles per hour?
Or perhaps, I make a ransom demand at the start of the attack, with a 1 hour time limit. Payment demanded in cryptocurrency immediately? Devices will continue to be dropped causing further damage as the minutes tick by? More drones are launched over time from different locations, increasing the duration of the attack.
Now does this all sound too far fetched? – or does it chill your bones?
Some might say that I am enabling ‘the enemy’ or giving them ideas. But have no doubt, this concept is already in the public domain and the technology is already in use.
Are any other risk or security managers losing sleep over this tech, the lack of import controls and even regulation?
In my opinion, the tech companies are creating awesome equipment, with many excellent legitimate uses.
However, this tech is open to being easily abused and risk managers defensive capabilities are limited. What do you think?
This Article was first published in 2021 – prior to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
#DroneDefence
#DroneOffence
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#DroneAttack
