Why inspection data is sensitive
Aerial inspection data shows the exact location, layout and condition of infrastructure: substations and lines, runways and airfield lighting, towers, pipelines and, on some contracts, military installations. In the wrong hands it is a map of where things are weak. Clients in these sectors increasingly put data-handling terms into their contracts, and the questions arrive before the first job, not after.
What these clients usually ask
| Client type | Questions to expect |
|---|---|
| Electric and gas utilities | Where is our data stored and in which country? Who at your company and your vendors can access it? Some utility data falls under grid security rules such as NERC CIP; does any of ours? |
| Airports | Who receives airfield imagery and how is it shared? How long do you keep it? Does it need to stay within the airport's security programme? |
| Defense and government | Is any of this controlled unclassified information? Which contract clauses apply, for example DFARS requirements or CMMC? Does the data have to stay on systems you control, in the United States? |
| Telecom and engineering firms | How is data delivered to us and to pole owners or subcontractors? Can we see who downloaded it? |
Where inspection data is exposed
| Stage | Risk | Control |
|---|---|---|
| Aircraft and cards | Lost or stolen cards; data left on aircraft | Clear cards only after the office confirms receipt; keep a chain of custody |
| Field laptop | Lost laptop, shared accounts, unencrypted disk | Full-disk encryption, individual logins, no personal cloud sync of project folders |
| Transfer home | Interception on public or hotel networks; uploads into services the client has not approved | Encryption that cannot be switched off, and a destination the client has approved |
| Storage | Data held by a third party, in an unknown region, with unclear access | Storage on systems you or the client control, with named access |
| Delivery to the client | Links that never expire, forwarded links, no record of who downloaded | Named recipients, expiry, passcodes and a download record |
Questions to ask any transfer or sharing tool
- 1Where is the data stored, and does it ever pass through the vendor's servers or another country?
- 2Is every transfer encrypted, with which algorithms, and can an administrator or user switch encryption off?
- 3Does each session use its own key, and is tampering with data in transit detected?
- 4Who can access the data: individual accounts with multi-factor sign-in, single sign-on, and roles?
- 5What does the audit log record, can entries be edited or deleted, and can it be exported to your security monitoring?
- 6Can delivery links be limited to named people, expire, and be withdrawn?
- 7Which certifications does the vendor hold today, and which does your client require?
- 8Can it run on infrastructure you control, including a network with no internet connection if a contract requires it?
Field habits that matter as much as the software
- Give each pilot and analyst their own login; never share one account across a crew.
- Encrypt laptop disks and portable SSDs, and lock screens when unattended.
- Keep project data out of personal cloud drives and messaging apps.
- Delete working copies on laptops once the office confirms receipt, following the client's retention terms.
- Record who handled each capture from flight to delivery, so you can answer the client's questions with facts.
How Ripton Cloud answers these questions
| Question | Ripton Cloud |
|---|---|
| Where is the data stored? | On the Ripton node you run on your own servers or cloud account. Files do not pass through Ripton Cloud's servers. |
| Can encryption be switched off? | No. The transfer protocol always encrypts with AES-256-GCM or ChaCha20-Poly1305; there is no plaintext mode. |
| Session keys and tampering | A new forward-secret key for each session, with authenticated packets and replay protection. |
| Who can access it? | Individual accounts with MFA from Starter; SAML single sign-on and roles from Professional. |
| Audit log | Full append-only audit log from Professional: recorded events cannot be edited. A basic admin and transfer log on Free and Starter; SIEM export on Enterprise. |
| Delivery links | Named recipients, passcodes, expiry and revocation, with views and downloads recorded. |
| No internet connection | Air-gapped activation on Enterprise. |