A key focus of the Radio NZ reporter, Phil Pennington, was the use of drones that could potentially leak data to China. In an earlier article, prior to the release of the Evaluation Report, Mr Pennington had raised concerns about Police using drones ``that have been partly banned in the US over fears that China is using the technology to spy''. As noted in the 12 May article, Dr Shelley advised Police about the cyber risks from Chinese and DJI drones in August 2019. This advice included a detailed discussion paper on the history of cyber concerns with these drones and potential risk controls. The original paper is available here and the latest version can be downloaded from Dr Shelley's Academia page. A key tent of the advice is that while there are technical cyber risks, those risks can be managed if appropriate controls are implemented.
Dr Shelley was interviewed by Radio New Zealand about the redacted version of the Evaluation Report, with a particular focus on cyber risks. Listen to the interview with Dr Shelley here, and Radio NZ reporter Phil Pennington's verbal report on the Proof of Concept project here.