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whether a vehicle is under attack. The first clue is the disappearance of the vehicle from the tracking systems. One enters a world of TV series-type communications where concepts such as passwords and words of coercion, coded messages and verification of abnormal behaviour may lead the Control Room to request the intervention of the Police.


The truck defends itself


The new defence principles tend to make technology the protagonist: it is the vehicle itself that self-diagnoses whether an attack is ongoing. The jammers make it invisible to the Control Room, the driver may be under threat: it is therefore the vehicle that must identify a dangerous situation and independently activate the technologies it is equipped with to defend itself. The strategy is to move reactive intelligence from the Control Room to the vehicle.


Active security that monitors and controls (as opposed to the passive one, which merely erects walls and barriers) is therefore increasingly important: criminals are technologically prepared and have significant economic resources. Organized crime has identified transport as the weakest link in the chain: the “warehouse on wheels” is one of the most sought-after targets. In the Control Rooms, the aim must be to ensure the safety of the driver and the protection of the goods. In the event of an attack, drivers must be instructed not to expose themselves and must know that someone is watching over them. In order that everything works in the proper way, routes, speeds, stops, tailgate openings, and getting in and out of the truck must be planned and controlled in real time.


We all know that with a jammer the size of a packet of cigars, we can easily cut off communications between the vehicle and the Control Room: this is the latest craze adopted by criminals. These products are freely available as they are legally used to screen offices, conference and meeting rooms. However, in case of improper use, they allow criminals to queue up a van or a truck and isolate it from the rest of the world: no mobile phone, no GPS, no alarm signals, no mobile communications, either incoming or outgoing.


In the never-ending struggle between guards and thieves, the conflict becomes hyper- technological and, on the side of the good guys, technology suppliers and satellite service providers, come into play: without going into details, it can be said that we are able to check


The first reaction is to make the truck unmanageable (in safe conditions) with procedures and technologies that switch off the engine and prevent it from restarting at the first stop. The first aim of criminals is not to steal the truck but its contents: if we prevent the vehicle from continuing its journey, if we stop it in unforeseen places, we raise the danger threshold perceived by criminals, who almost always give up.


But even if the cargo is now in the hands of the gang, we do not let them sleep peacefully: we always hide a reactive “spy box” among the goods. For example, we make them switch on to report the position every two hours, so that the technologies that can identify them – if constantly switched on - are not effective. In this way we build an extra chance to recover the load.


Assault on the fort


But if transport is the most exposed front, warehouses are an equally attractive target: however, defending a site is easier because it is a building. We can implement a combination of several defence tools, active and passive, the sum of which turns a high- value warehouse into a fort.


So, not only external protection systems (fences, walls, alarmed doors, entry/ exit barriers and guards) but also sensors and cameras that allow us to go far beyond the standard requirements of the most demanding customers, and to track intrusion attempts


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before they occur by intercepting the intruders while they are still outside the perimeter and, therefore, move more quietly.


The most dangerous behaviour


All situations must be monitored. In any case a verification procedure is opened, trying to predict every behaviour in order to prevent any kind of attack, from the classic “hole in the wall”, to the access from the roof, to the opening of alarmed doors during the truck checks. It is a continuous game as the imagination of thieves has no limits and they have no boundaries. It is called “predictive security”. The riskiest behaviour? The “hit and run” theft. While it is difficult for an organized gang to gain access to warehouses and empty them in whole or in part, it is far more dangerous for a maverick to enter, take what he can get and run away. In such cases, everything depends on the speed with which the security procedures are activated from the Control Room, and on the resistance of the physical barriers that must be implemented in order to delay break-in attempts.


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About the Author


Francesco Giannini is General Manager of advanced technology supplier Multiprotexion, a company at the forefront of satellite security systems and active surveillance. It assumes the role of direct interlocutor and sole supplier with full responsibility, equal to the task of providing the highest quality standards in the application of AI technologies to fleet security management and control software.


From around 30 years on the security market, the company’s philosophy is based on prevention; the company is capable of implementing, throughout the transport process, an ensemble of preventive measures, strict procedures and innovative predictive solutions that have reduced year-after- year the percentage of attempted attacks against the more than 18,000 trucks


being monitored.


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