Security fog works by flooding a protected space with dense, opaque fog the instant an intrusion is detected — a 0.1 second reaction time, reducing visibility to approximately 30 cm. An intruder who cannot see cannot select, cannot navigate and cannot carry out what they came to do. The attack stops because its basic precondition has been removed.
That is the whole idea, and it is worth stating plainly because the category is often misunderstood. This is not smoke, it is not a deterrent signal, and it is not a detection product. It is an active intervention that changes the physical conditions inside the building while the break-in is in progress.
The sequence, step by step
A security fogging system sits downstream of detection. It does not decide that something is wrong; your alarm system does, and the fog unit acts on that decision.
- Detection. Your existing intrusion system registers the event — a door contact, a motion sensor, a glass-break detector. Alternatively, a person triggers it deliberately with a panic button.
- Activation. That signal fires the fog unit. There is no separate decision layer and no delay for a human to confirm.
- Deployment. Fluid is forced across a heat exchanger and discharged as fog at up to 28 m³ per second. The reaction time is 0.1 seconds.
- Obscuration. Within seconds the protected volume is filled. Visibility falls to approximately 30 cm — far enough to see your own hands, not far enough to find a display case, a doorway or a route out.
- Dispersal. The fog clears without cleaning. It is a food-grade glycol mixture and leaves no residue on stock, surfaces or equipment.
Why obscuration works where noise does not
A monitored alarm is a message. It tells a control room, and eventually a responder, that something is happening. What it does not do is interfere with the event itself. Between the alarm sounding and anyone arriving there is a window, and that window is precisely what an organised attack is designed around.
A smash-and-grab is short by construction: get in, take the concentrated value, leave before response arrives. Every element of it depends on the intruder being able to see. Remove sight and the plan has nothing to run on — not because the intruder has been frightened away, but because the task has become impossible to perform.
What is actually in the fog
The fluid is a food-grade glycol mixture — the same family of fluid used in theatrical and event fog machines, which is where most people have already encountered it without thinking about it. It is certified safe for people, animals and goods.
It leaves no residue. This matters more than it first appears: a system that protected your stock but coated it in film would simply convert one loss into another. Electronics, textiles, documents and food stock are all left as they were. The practical consequence is that a system can activate — including a false activation — without creating a clean-up event.
Certification
Security fogging is a certified product category rather than an improvised one, and the standards are worth knowing by name when you are comparing options.
- EN 50131-8
- European standard for security fog devices
- NF & A2P
- French certification for security equipment
- CNPP
- Independent testing and certification body
- ISO 9001
- Quality management systems
Fog Bandit is designed and manufactured by Bandit NV in Belgium. Fog Bandit SEA is the official distributor across Malaysia and Southeast Asia.
Sizing, briefly
A fog system is specified against the volume of the space it protects, not its floor area — ceiling height changes the answer substantially. The two platforms cover different bands:
- Bandit 240 DB
- 50–500 m³, programmable. Larger volumes, warehousing, high ceilings.
- Bandit 320
- 40–200 m³. Retail floors, offices, concealed installations.
Larger spaces are covered by multi-unit arrays rather than by overdriving a single unit. Nozzle configuration — standard, narrow, downward — is chosen from the shape of the space and where the unit can physically be mounted.
Common questions
- How fast does security fog deploy?
- The reaction time is 0.1 seconds, with output of up to 28 m³ of fog per second. The protected volume is obscured within seconds of the trigger.
- Does security fog set off the fire alarm?
- Security fog is not smoke and contains no combustion products, but some optical smoke detectors can respond to any dense airborne particulate. This is handled at design time by detector selection, siting and interlocking the fog system with the fire panel. It is a standard part of specifying an installation, and it is a question to settle during the site survey rather than after.
- What happens after the fog has deployed?
- It disperses on its own and leaves no residue, so there is no cleaning and no specialist decontamination. The unit is refilled and rearmed to return to readiness.
- Can it be triggered deliberately during a robbery?
- Yes. As well as activating from your alarm system, it can be fired manually by panic button — which covers a hold-up during trading hours, when the alarm system is disarmed.