Autor: Matthias Monroy

Land, sea and air: EU Member States test drones for border surveillance

In the ROBORDER security research project, border authorities and the military are testing various drones for controlling land and sea borders. They are supposed to operate in swarms. The border agency Frontex should benefit from the results. German companies are also involved in the research.

Ministries of the Interior and Defence from Portugal, Hungary and Greece are testing manned and unmanned platforms for border surveillance. In the EU project ROBORDER, Hungary is interested in securing land borders with an unmanned ground vehicle, while Greece is using a long-range drone and an aircraft. Portugal uses a surface and an underwater drone in the Atlantic.

The drones should operate independently and in swarms. They are equipped with various sensors whose images are combined in a mobile situation centre. Different communication links are examined for transmission. „Land, sea and air: EU Member States test drones for border surveillance“ weiterlesen

Less „Silent SMS“ from German police, but more secrecy for domestic intelligence

The blog Netzpolitik.org graphically displays the sending of „Silent SMS“ every six months. This shows the extent to which police forces and secret services use mobile phones as tracking bugs. Because of this „condensation“ of information worthy of protection, the figures for the Office for the Protection of the Constitution are classified as „secret“.

German Federal authorities currently use significantly less „Silent SMS“ than in previous years. This is shown by the actual figures, which the Federal Ministry of the Interior (MoI) provides on request every six months. Accordingly, the Federal Police (BPOL) sent 20,152 „Silent SMS“ in the first half of 2019 (second half of 2018: 50,654; first half of 2018: 38,990). There was also a decrease by the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA). In the first half of 2019 the figure was only 6,302, compared with 21,337 secret text messages previously sent by the authority. „Less „Silent SMS“ from German police, but more secrecy for domestic intelligence“ weiterlesen

Surveillance of 5G: Governments plan to change laws

5G telephony makes communication more secure. Connections, subscriber and device identifiers are partly encrypted, also conventional IMSI catchers become useless. Providers could therefore be forced to install new surveillance technology.

With Multi-Access Edge Computing (MEC), the fifth mobile phone generation (5G) decomposes the transmission of telephone calls into individual stages and and encrypts them. Telecommunications providers no longer process the traffic centrally, but via various network edges. The metadata and content is only decrypted at these decentralized nodes.

That means that with 5G telephony, communication becomes much more secure. This poses a problem for police forces and secret services. „Surveillance of 5G: Governments plan to change laws“ weiterlesen

Frontex monitors sea border with unmanned airship

In the new Frontex budget, more than two billion euros have been reserved for the procurement of the company’s own ships, aircraft and automobiles. After drones, the EU Commission is now testing other technologies for aerial border surveillance

The Greek coast guard is using an unmanned airship in the Aegean Sea. The so-called Aerostat is used to monitor the sea area off the island of Samos. The pilot project is carried out in cooperation with the EU border agency Frontex and is part of Operation „Poseidon“ in the eastern Mediterranean. The tests last one month and are intended to determine the suitability for the detection of irregular border crossings.

If Frontex detects boats that are not seaworthy while still sailing in Turkish territorial waters, the Agency may inform the responsible Turkish sea emergency centre in accordance with maritime law. Aerial images are also to be used to track smugglers. „Frontex monitors sea border with unmanned airship“ weiterlesen

Rheinmetall builds armed drone tank

More and more states have unmanned land vehicles that can be armed or used for surveillance. Programmed missions are carried out completely autonomous.

The Rheinmetall armaments group has developed a „Multimission Unmanned Ground Vehicle“ (MMUGV) that is about to go into series production. The „Mission Master“ is currently on display at various military trade fairs. Rheinmetall is advertising that the drone tank can be used in combat, for troop supply, surveillance, reconnaissance, for evacuation of wounded soldiers or for fire-fighting. The Mission Master is also intended to transport troops.

The vehicles can be operated either remotely, semi-automatically or completely as robots. The „Mission Master“ covers all three possible options. In fully autonomous operation, the operating soldier only has to program the mission and observe its progress. If necessary, the sequence can be interrupted by the user. „Rheinmetall builds armed drone tank“ weiterlesen

Europol to become a global criminal information hub

With new regulations, the EU Police Agency will soon have access to many millions of alerts and searches, including fingerprints and facial images. The function is part of the „2020+ Strategy“. Connection to other information systems is already being planned.

Europol will be connected to the Schengen Information System (SIS II) from the end of this year. Access for the Hague-based police agency is governed by three new rules for the Schengen Information System. Europol has read-only access. As an official participant, however, the Agency can use all alerts contained therein for its own purposes.

SIS II is the largest and most widely used search database in the European Union. 26 EU Member States participate, as well as Iceland, Norway, Liechtenstein and Switzerland. The database currently contains more than 82 million entries. The majority are objects such as stolen or missing vehicles and identity documents. According to the European Agency for the Management of Large IT Systems (eu-LISA), which manages the SIS II, it was searched more than six billion times in 2018, compared to five billion the previous year. „Europol to become a global criminal information hub“ weiterlesen