The proprietory source code was shared by a Chinese software developer on GitHub. The code uploaded in plain text would allow for decryption of DJI's encrypted flight control firmware, welcoming anyone knowledgeable to bypass geofencing and other restrictions on DJI drones. One of the disclosed keys lets enables the opportunity to spoof the DJI's website and decrypt comms between DJI drones and the company's own servers in China.

The ex-staffer worked as a software engineer and was developing code for an agricultural drone management platform and the programming used in agricultural machinery systems. The proprietory data went public after the employee created an account on GitHub and exposed the code comprising sensitive information.