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How is one drone manufacturer attempting to root out vulnerabilities in its UAVs?

Answer: by offering rewards to the hacker community for uncovering the drones' weaknesses

Popular China-based drone manufacturer DJI announced in a Monday blog post a plan to reward hackers for finding vulnerabilities in its unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).

The program, called the DJI Threat Identification Reward, awards hackers in amounts between $100 and $30,000, depending on the severity of the threat that they uncover. DJI will soon launch a website where anyone who has hacked their drones can submit a form detailing what they’ve found.

This new program is the first step in an effort by the company to address recent issues with the security of their drones. Hackers have been able to overcome built-in restrictions on features such as flying speed, altitude and geofences that ground the drones in no-fly zones like airports.

“Security researchers, academic scholars and independent experts often provide a valuable service by analyzing the code in DJI’s apps and other software products, and bringing concerns to public attention,” said Walter Stockwell, director of technical standards at DJI , in a statement. “DJI wants to learn from their experiences as we constantly strive to improve our products, and we are willing to pay rewards for the discoveries they make.”

Kate is a senior copy editor in Northern California. She holds a bachelor's degree in English with a minor in professional writing from the University of California, Davis.