Chinese drone maker Dà-Jiāng Innovations Science and Technology Co., Ltd., better known as DJI, has updated the software in its machines to prevent them from being hacked by anyone; but in particular, by those pesky Russians.

The drone software update is meant to prevent users from circumventing flight restrictions imposed by DJI on its products, such as restrictions on drones being flown over airports, which to the surprise of some are already built into the software through the use of geofencing. Geofencing uses GPS technology to create a virtual geographic boundary, enabling the software to trigger a response when a device attempts to enter a particular area, in this case preventing a DJI drone from entering a restricted space such as an airport.

“Unauthorized modification of a DJI drone is not recommended, as it can cause unstable flight behavior that could make operating the drone unsafe,” said Victor Wang, DJI’s technology security director, in a statement to Motherboard. “DJI is not responsible for the performance of a modified drone and we strongly condemn any user who attempts to modify their drone for illegal or unsafe use.”

While it’s claimed that drone forums on YouTube and Facebook, as well as Slack groups have published details on how to hack DJI drones, the biggest purveyor of drone hacking software is alleged to be an ironically named Russian company by the name of Coptersafe. The company boasts on its website that its “mods” can remove no-fly zone limitations along with altitude and speed limits from drones made by a number of companies, though it advises users to “fly according to you [sic] local law” as “actual flight is your own responsibility and risk.”

The software and hardware modifications sold by Coptersafe are costly, coming in at around $200 on average. But according to Neowin, hackers have recently reverse-engineered the Coptersafe software and have released it for free on the Internet, meaning that anyone can now easily access instructions on modifying their drone.

“It seems an arms race between hackers and the company is well underway and will only intensify in the future, as hackers are keen to circumvent the restrictions in the new firmware versions,” Neowin noted. Given the history of software, that’s exactly what it is.

Photo: Maxpixel