World leader in the production of drones, the Chinese company DJI has decided to introduce a confidential flight regime to prevent the risk of data leakage on the routes of drones to the Internet. This company announced two weeks after the US Army decided to ban the use of drones DJI because of concerns related to cybersecurity.

The company was already engaged in the development of a new flight regime, but the actions of the American side forced it to accelerate the pace. The offline mode is planned to be added to the application for managing drones DJI Go in September.

Internet connection, which is not required for flights, will be disabled. This will prevent the synchronization of data on the flight of drones with the servers DJI.

"The regime will provide an increased level of data security for flights that involve critical infrastructure facilities, commercial or state secrets or other classified information," the company explained in its blog.

DJI already faced security concerns in 2016 after a company employee told the press that DJI repeatedly shared client data with the Chinese authorities. The company reacted immediately, explaining that the junior employee "just made a reservation" and that the company passed on information to the authorities only on the condition of an informed official request from Beijing or any other government.

The company notes that it does not have access to on-board flight logs or captured images unless users themselves share this information through the DJI Go application. The new measure aims to provide even greater confidence in this.

In confidential mode, however, users will lose access to some functions that include:.

- the ability to conduct live broadcast on YouTube, - automatic installation of maps and updates of data on prohibited areas for flights, - receiving notifications of imposed restrictions on flights from authorities.

As a consequence, DJI warned that it is unlikely to be able to propose a new regime to those countries in which the law requires pilots to have the latest information on no-fly zones.

Earlier, the US Army banned its military use of drones manufactured by the Chinese company DJI because of the detected cyber-vulnerabilities.

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