SkySafe launches new tool to help identify and prosecute rogue drone operators

In police departments across the United States, shelves are filling with recovered drones — seized near airports, prisons, power stations, and border crossings. Many hold encrypted logs or damaged memory cards, leaving investigators facing a familiar dead end: a drone in evidence, but no way to prove who flew it or what it was doing.

Now, SkySafe, a San Diego-based developer of drone-detection and airspace-intelligence technologies, is launching a new investigative capability designed to help law enforcement agencies and security organizations determine who operated a drone during an incident and build cases that hold up in court. The cloud-based forensics service, formally launching on November 13, 2025, is aimed at solving one of the biggest challenges in counter-drone security: linking a recovered drone to specific activity in the airspace with an evidence chain prosecutors can trust. The company describes the new capability as the final piece of an end-to-end airspace-intelligence platform. Merely detecting unauthorized drones has become easier in recent years as more airports, prisons, critical-infrastructure sites, and border regions deploy RF sensors and radar-based surveillance. But agencies still struggle with the investigative step that follows. Once a drone is seized, investigators often lack the tools to extract encrypted logs, interpret flight data, and connect the device to a specific operator or incident. The company says its new service closes that gap. SkySafe Chief Revenue Officer Melissa Swisher told AeroTime the technology gives agencies a way to recover flight logs and metadata from a drone, match that information with SkySafe’s detection records, and produce a legally defensible report that supports charges when an operator violates restricted airspace.“Integrating forensics into drone detection and airspace intelligence is a major inflection point for the industry,” said Swisher. “Delivering this level of airspace intelligence gives organizations the ability to truly understand and control what’s happening in their skies.”

Two layers working together

SkySafe’s existing analytics platform focuses on real-time and historical airspace patterns. The system uses the company’s RF network, radar inputs, and telemetry sources to show where drones are flying, how they behave, and whether the activity appears routine or suspicious. Agencies use this to track unauthorized flights, assess risk, and respond when drones appear in sensitive locations.

The new investigative tools activate after officers or investigators recover a drone. The analytics layer shows what happened in the air. The forensic layer is intended to show who flew the drone and when.

Recovered aircraft can be difficult to analyze. Logs may be encrypted or corrupted. Hardware may be damaged. And even when onboard data is available, investigators often struggle to match it to detections recorded by surveillance systems. SkySafe says its new capability bridges that gap by extracting data, decrypting logs when possible, identifying time-stamped activity, and comparing that information to records in the SkySafe Cloud.

The process allows investigators to confirm whether a seized drone is the same aircraft detected in the airspace during an incident. The company frames this as a way to connect the physical drone to the digital record and provide attribution that agencies often lack.

Building evidence for prosecution

SkySafe has designed the service around legal standards to ensure that the data and reports agencies receive are admissible in court. Every step of the workflow is logged and timestamped to maintain chain-of-custody requirements. The company uses validated forensic tools to avoid altering original evidence during extraction and analysis, Swisher said. The final package includes decrypted flight logs, geolocation mapping, device identifiers, attribution data, and expert affidavits that prosecutors can present during hearings or trials. SkySafe’s forensic staff can also testify when needed. Swisher said agencies frequently recover drones during investigations but can’t proceed with charges because they lack the ability to extract usable evidence. “Every step of the forensic workflow, from drone recovery to final reporting, follows digital forensics best practices and chain-of-custody protocols consistent with federal, state, and international guidelines,” she said.

Subscription-based access

SkySafe will provide the new capability through an annual subscription rather than a per-incident fee, a model the company calls Forensics as a Service. Along with unlimited forensic processing for every drone an agency recovers during the subscription period, the service includes training and certification for up to four personnel each year. That training covers data interpretation, evidence-handling procedures, extraction tools, and courtroom preparation through realistic, scenario-based exercises. Swisher said the training component is designed to give agencies internal expertise instead of forcing them to rely solely on outside specialists.

A widening security challenge

Real-world incidents underscore the trend. At major sporting events and large campuses, organizers have already confronted drones that disrupt operations or compromise security. During the PGA Tour’s Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines in January 2025, SkySafe detected a dozen unauthorized drones, enabling local law enforcement to locate several operators before they could interfere with broadcasts or spectator areas. At the University of Illinois, campus police used SkySafe’s tools to identify a drone pilot who flew into the stadium bowl during a Big Ten football game, capturing images of a SWAT officer stationed above the crowd on a rooftop. The forensic data tied the flight to a specific individual, leading to an arrest and state charges for reckless conduct. Drones have introduced new challenges for airport operators, border agencies, energy utilities, and corrections facilities. Unauthorized flights have disrupted operations near major airports. Prisons continue to battle drone-based contraband drops. Border agents confront drones used for surveillance or transport. And critical-infrastructure sites have reported incursions that test response protocols and reveal gaps in situational awareness. While detection and tracking technologies have improved, attribution has remained the hardest problem to solve. Without reliable evidence that ties a drone to a specific operator or flight path, agencies often cannot pursue charges or understand the full scope of an incident. SkySafe’s new capability aims to close that gap by helping agencies move beyond observation and build cases grounded in traceable data.“Forensics as a Service is the missing piece that completes that picture,” Swisher said. “By closing the investigative loop, we’re enabling customers to move from awareness to action—turning every incident into actionable, admissible evidence.”

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