A French report says world leaders, including the presidents of France, the United States and Russia, are at risk because their avid use of fitness apps allows them to easily track security personnel.
Members of the U.S. Secret Service in charge of presidents and presidential candidates, as well as Emmanuel Macron’s personal security and President Vladimir Putin’s bodyguards, have maps of running and cycling exploits linked to their smartwatches and mobile phones. Share openly with other Strava users. Mond said.
The newspaper reports that the investigation, which follows recent concerns over the wealth of location data shared by users of Strava, the most popular sports app, could easily locate security guards traveling with school principals around the world. Ta. .
They include operatives who worked at the scene of two assassination attempts on Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, as well as personnel protecting President Vladimir Putin, who reportedly The vehicle was said to be driving near two mansions that the company has always denied owning. The data identified hotels and gathering places that are not open to the public.
The locations of former and current first ladies Melania Trump and Jill Biden could also be determined using the same form of data collection.
Despite orders from their superiors not to reveal their location on the app, which has 120 million users, military and law enforcement officials, who are sports enthusiasts, are “not willing to protect their activities.” They don’t think about it and instead post it publicly,” Le Monde reported. “President Macron’s bodyguards are unwittingly sharing their location online, both personally and professionally.”
Police officers traveling with security information for politicians such as President Macron (right) could be tracked if they use Strava while off-duty.
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“By aggregating anonymous data, Strava reveals the presence of military bases around the world, or more frequently, the location of the bases and the paths taken by military personnel in and around the bases,” the company says. .
The Secret Service ignored Le Monde’s findings. Although employees are prohibited from using personal devices while at work, “we do not prohibit employees from using social media for personal purposes outside of work hours,” the company said.
However, it added: “Affected personnel have been notified and we will review this information to determine whether additional training or guidance is required.”
Macron’s office said the problems reported by Le Monde newspaper were “very minor and do not affect the president’s security in any way.” The newspaper tracked Mr Macron’s trip to a hotel in the Normandy resort town of Honfleur on a private weekend trip that was not on the president’s agenda through the protection officer’s Strava.
Strava said users can easily opt out of data sharing. “We expect people in sensitive professions to take advantage of the controls available to them.”
A Telegram messaging channel linked to Russian authorities blamed the killing of a Russian submarine captain in Krasnodar last July on his use of Strava. Stanislav Ruzicki, 42, was shot dead while jogging in a Russian city.
We first warned of the risks of fitness apps in 2018, when users exploited them to reveal details of US military bases in Syria and Afghanistan, as well as the Royal Navy base at Faslane, home to Britain’s nuclear submarines. The announcement was made by an Australian student who discovered this. Deterrent power.
