The growing digitisation of airport operations has paved the way for the smart airports of the future. One key challenge faced by smaller hubs is minimising the time spent by skilled operators on boring, repetitive tasks, and allowing them to be assigned to more critical duties. One such task is the monitoring of restricted areas to prevent unauthorized access by individuals, vehicles, or wildlife. This paper presents the design and deployment of an Edge-based virtual fence system at a Swedish regional airport, as a case study in implementing privacy-preserving and automated surveillance. Our system integrates off-the-shelf components, such as IP cameras and AI-powered Edge devices, to detect and respond to trespassing events. Furthermore, we analyse the system’s robustness against potential cybersecurity and physical security threats and present our considerations regarding design choices and techniques for mitigating such threats.