I know that Ukraine relies a lot on DJI drones, particularly for reconnaissance, and I am curious if this is a security risk. DJI is headquartered in China, and China and Russia have good relations, so is it possible that Russia makes a request to China that they brick Ukraine’s drones, or backdoor them?
You’re extremely overestimating the relationship between China and Russia. The risk of backdoors in foreign equipment is everpesent, but also extremely unlikely for a consumer device.
Even if they do have that backdoor, after using it you’ve given away that advantage. It would be relatively easy to spot and flash new software. Which I’m pretty sure they do anyway in case the Russians themselves try to hack the signals.
Unless DJI’s controllers have a secure enclave reserved for the CCP’s national-security organs, which cannot be disabled or subverted.
DJI drones are really closed, I doubt it’s possible to completely escape this. You can put files on an sd card and flash them, but if those files are malicious too, the drone will not function. While I see your point about bricking drones being a one trick pony, it would severely impact Ukraine’s surveillance capabilities if they lost most of their drones.
A weak Russia is also in China’s best interests.
