Most security leaders are unlikely to have drones on the list of threats they need to defend against on the cyber or physical security front. Drones can, however, introduce new risks that organizations need to recognize and address proactively, say security experts, even if an organization isn’t using them.

A growing number of organizations have recently been deploying drones—or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) or unmanned aircraft systems (UAS)—for a variety of applications. Examples include crop monitoring, surveying sites and terrain, inspecting utility infrastructure, delivering goods, and checking warehouse inventory.