US Army to Cease Use of DJI Products

News

by Fabian ChaundyAugust 7^th, 2017

A memo from the US Army reveals a cease of use of DJI Products due to undisclosed “cyber vulnerabilities”.

Unmanned Aviation site sUAS News recently reported about an obtained memo from the US Navy that called for the institution to halt its use of DJI products. According to the document, this measure comes as a result of an “increased awareness of cyber vulnerabilities associated with DJI products”, citing a memorandum from the Navy titled “Operational Risks with Regards to DJI Family of Products” as well as “DJI UAS Technology Threat and User Vulnerabilities”, a report from the Army Research Laboratory that remains classified.

Image Credit: sUAS News

It is unclear what exactly is implied by “cyber vulnerabilities”, leading DJI to have reportedly reached out to the US Army for clarification. A response from the Army confirmed the outcome of the memorandum, but refused to comment further.

DJI drones are not impervious to hacking, as we recently saw with the Russian company selling a hack to remove the DJI No Fly Zones restrictions. Perhaps they are also vulnerable to remote hacking by a third party, or maybe it has something to do with DJI’s data gathering. In any case, at this point it is all conjecture until DJI releases an official statement. It is worth mentioning, however, that DJI had been the most common off-the-shelf UAV products in use by the Army.

Via: sUAS News.

What kind of vulnerabilities do you think caused the US Army to drop DJI products? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!