Moving Putin, Baiden and Trump was monitored thanks to the popular application - investigation

Le Monde journalists found that some US secret agents use the Strava fitness app. Strava is an application for training in training, which is mostly used by runners and cyclists to record their activity and share their workouts with the community. It is used by about 125 million people worldwide. It all started in early 2018 with the "Activity Card" of the Appendix.

The social network, which presented it a few weeks earlier, shows all the aggregate trips of its users: the thicker and brighter the line, the more athletes this route has passed. In all major cities, parks and river banks glow. Conversely, areas where there are few Strava users remain dark. But then, glowing trails were discovered in the Syrian desert where the military were, which did not think to hide their sports activity and instead published it in public.

Combining anonymous data, Strava reveals the presence of military bases around the world or, more often, their location and routes, traveled by servicemen on or around them. In the United States, the Pentagon states that this issue is very serious. In France, the Ministry of Armed Forces also twists the nuts. As for Strava, it shifts responsibility to its users, indicating that only public actions have been combined, but promises to simplify confidentiality settings.

Shortly after this investigation of the French satirical weekly, Le Canard Enchaîné and the daily newspaper Le Télégramme found an even larger loophole: you can identify by the name of intelligence services or French soldiers, not passing an anonymous card, and taking action. Some of them are employees of the French Foreign Intelligence Agency, internal intelligence services (DGSI), or servicemen located on the base of Il-Long in Brittan, where French atomic submarines are located.

From their profiles it is easy to find out their home address, habits, and even if they take them with them for sports events, the names of their loved ones. Le Monde has found Strava users among Donald Trump Security Service, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, as well as French President Emmanuel Macron and Russian President Vladimir Putin. In one example, Le Monde tracked Macron's guards by Strava to determine that the French leader had a weekend at the 2021 Norman Maritime Resort.

The trip should be private and was not listed on the official agenda of the President. Le Monde reported that Melania Trump and Jill Biden location can also be determined by tracking their guards' profiles in Strava. In a statement for Le Monde, the US Secret Service stated that its employees are not allowed to use personal electronic devices when performing their duties when performing security tasks, but "we do not forbid employees to use social networks for personal purposes.

" They were restrained there that they were informed by the staff and considering this information to "determine whether additional training or management was needed. " "We do not think that there were any threats to any of the protected persons,"-they added to the secret service and noted that their place of residence and so "regularly disclosed within the framework of public release schedules.

" In another example, the LE Monde newspaper reported that the profile of the US secret service on Strava opened the location of the hotel in which Biden stopped at San Francisco for important negotiations with the China Chapter Czinpin in 2023. A few hours before Baiden's arrival, the agent left the hotel, using Strava, which tracked his route.

Journalists say they identified 26 US agents, 12 members of French GSPR (Presidential Security Group) and six members of the Russian FSO (Federal Security Service), they were all responsible for the safety of their wards and had public accounts on Strava, and therefore reported their own Traveling on the network, in particular during business trips. Le Monde did not name guards' names for security reasons.

The report states that moving through Strava can lead to security violations, especially when security staff go to places such as hotels, where their executives then stop and meet. On Monday, Macron's office stated that the consequences of the problems reported by Le Monde "are very small and in no way affect the safety of the President of the Republic.

" The local authorities are informed in advance of the macron movement, and its place of stay is always completely safe, so "there is no risk", the statement says. "However, the headquarters chief sent a reminder to the agents not to use this application," Macron added. In the office of Kamala Harris did not comment, and in the Donald Trump office a representative of the National Committee of the Republican Party repeated some of his critical remarks against Biden administration.

According to Ibrahim Baghili, a specialist in computer science and a professor of cybersecurity at the University of Louisiana, the risks of safety related to fitness applies indicate the need for more strict regulation of how technological companies can use consumer data. Baghili's research has shown how attackers can use fitness data to track potential victims, creating the risks of persecution, robbery and other crimes.

According to Baghili, consumers often give the developers the right to use or sell their data when agreeing with the conditions of service. "Companies love our data, and we love the product, so we give out the data for free. The government really needs to strengthen measures to use the data and the timing of their storage," the expert said.

The report emphasizes that the identification of the presidential guards (some of them use their full names in Strava) can also help in finding other details about their personal addresses, families, moving and photographs, which they placed on various social networks. All this can be used to put pressure on them for malicious purposes.