Name: Strava
Age: Founded in 2009 by former Harvard University rowers Michael Horvath and Mark Gainey.
What is it exactly? fitness app.
How does it work? It’s popular among cyclists and runners who use GPS data to track their activities and record their activities to share with the community. Also useful for jackals…
Like “The Day of…”? Why? An investigation by French newspaper Le Monde used it to track the movements of Joe Biden, Donald Trump, Kamala Harris, and other world leaders.
Trump doesn’t look like your typical Strava user…well, not particularly them, but their bodyguards. Le Monde found that some US Secret Service agents have been using the app since the Trump assassination attempt. They also used the bodyguard’s Strava profile to track the movements of Jill Biden and Melania Trump.
Perhaps they realized that Melania is no longer close to her husband? It’s not that kind of investigation. In another example, an agent’s Strava tracked jogging route was used to identify the San Francisco hotel where Joe Biden was meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
It seems very lax, but are agents even allowed to use their personal phones? It’s prohibited while on duty, but the U.S. Secret Service told Le Monde that personal use of social media outside of work hours is prohibited. He said it was not prohibited. But they also said that “affected personnel have been notified” and that “this information will be reviewed to determine if additional training or guidance is required.”
It’s like he’s worried. Is it just Americans? Mysnon. The paper also identified 12 members of the French security group GSPR and six members of Russia’s FSO.
President Putin will probably tell us to be more careful in the future. There has been no communication from the Kremlin. Mr Macron’s office said it had not affected his security but had instructed agencies not to use the app.
Is this the first time you’ve had security concerns about Strava? Interesting to ask. In 2018, students discovered they had created maps of US military bases in Syria and Afghanistan, as well as the Royal Navy’s Faslane base. Another security flaw in 2022 revealed the identity and movements of guards at an Israeli military base. And things got very serious last July…
Oh please continue. In Singapore, rental runners made headlines when they offered a service that allowed them to log on to someone else’s ID and run on their behalf, charging them a fee per kilometer.
So can people pretend to exercise when they don’t? that’s right. I became known as the Strava Jockey.
But that would defeat the whole purpose. No praise! Well, some people will do anything to get a better PB.
Say, “Sträva means effort in Swedish, don’t you understand?”
Don’t say, “Oh, that’s the layout of Camp David…”
