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from the post-secret-keys-and-you-get-forked dept.
Drone hackers/researchers can modify the firmware for DJI drones, thanks to rogue DJI developers and a fork of a public Github repo:
Github rejected a DMCA takedown request from Chinese drone-maker DJI after someone forked source code left in the open by a naughty DJI developer, The Register can reveal.
This included AES keys permitting decryption of flight control firmware, which could allow drone fliers with technical skills to remove geofencing from the flight control software: this software prevents DJI drones from flying in certain areas such as the approach paths for airports, or near government buildings deemed to be sensitive.
Though the released key is not for the latest firmware version, The Register has seen evidence (detailed below) that drone hackers are already incorporating it in modified firmware available for anyone to download and flash to their drones.
[...] In fact the people who posted the keys to DJI's kingdom, as well as source code for various projects, were DJI devs. The company said in a later statement that they were sacked.
The code was forked by drone researcher Kevin Finisterre, who submitted a successful rebuttal to the takedown request on the grounds that Github's terms and conditions explicitly permit forking of public repos.
[...] Drone hackers have already begun distributing modded firmware for DJI's popular Phantom drones, as we can see on – where else? – Github
Previously: Man Gets Threats-Not Bug Bounty-After Finding DJI Customer Data in Public View
Related: DJI introduced new software to stop its drones from flying in restricted airspace.
Skip the Complex Tracking Software, DJI Says, and Give Drones an "Invisible" License Plate
$500 DJI Spark Drone can Take Off and Land from Your Palm
DJI Will Ground Drones If They Don't Apply a Software Update
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 26 2018, @09:47PM (1 child)
Violating contracts can be perfectly justifiable, and I say it would be in a case like this. Same for NDAs in general. I don't think they should even be enforceable.
Making a "promise" to employers who hold power over you and then breaking it is not necessarily wrong. Most of these contracts are unjust.
The ends do sometimes justify the means, particularly when the means are not actually bad, like in this case. No, this will not lead to tyranny and murder.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 27 2018, @07:40AM
Your idea that "I am right and they are wrong. Therefore my actions cannot be wrong, even if they hurt them" is exactly what I am talking about.
So let me get personal for the first time:
With this basic idea, you are putting yourself in the footsteps of the likes of Mao, Stalin, McCarthy, the "only-a-dead-readskin-..." crowd and lots of smaller assholes that were fought and later reviled throughout human history.
Since you are a believer in your being an ubermensch (deciding about good and bad according to your own, blatantly self-serving opinion), I'll stop trying to have a rational discussion now. I just hope, for all people around you, that you never, ever get into a position of power, no matter how small.