The largest French newspaper, Le Monde, did an investigation on a popular fitness app, and the results are disturbing to the safety of heads of state and other leaders around the world.
Here’s the full investigation (in French, behind a paywall).
Le Monde discovered that the potentially confidential movements of US President Joe Biden, candidates Donald Trump and Kamala Harris and other world leaders are easily tracked online using the Strava fitness app that many of their bodyguards use.
Associated Press reported:
“Le Monde found that some U.S. Secret Service agents use the Strava fitness app, including in recent weeks after two assassination attempts on Trump, in a video investigation released in French and in English. Strava is a fitness tracking app primarily used by runners and cyclists to record their activities and share their workouts with a community.
Le Monde also found Strava users among the security staff for French President Emmanuel Macron and Russian President Vladimir Putin. In one example, Le Monde traced the Strava movements of Macron’s bodyguards to determine that the French leader spent a weekend in the Normandy seaside resort of Honfleur in 2021. The trip was meant to be private and wasn’t listed on the president’s official agenda.”
Macron, Biden, Putin: Three of the world’s most important leaders have been put in danger due to their security guards’ use of #Strava, the sports social media app.
Watch Episode 1 of StravaLeaks: Le Monde’s exclusive investigation.https://t.co/hzB23sCe1J
— Le Monde in English (@LeMonde_EN) October 28, 2024
USSS downplays the danger, saying that agents don’t use personal electronic devices while on duty, but off-duty social media usage is not frowned upon.
“’Affected personnel has been notified’, it said. ‘We will review this information to determine if any additional training or guidance is required. […] We do not assess that there were any impacts to protective operations or threats to any protectees’, it added. Locations ‘are regularly disclosed as part of public schedule releases’.”
Back in 2023, a particular USSS agent’s Strava profile dangerously revealed what hotel Biden would be staying in San Francisco for meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, by tracing the route of the agent’s jogging.
“The newspaper’s journalists say they identified 26 U.S. agents, 12 members of the French GSPR, the Security Group of the Presidency of the Republic, and six members of the Russian FSO, or Federal Protection Service, all of them in charge of presidential security, who had public accounts on Strava and were therefore communicating their movements online, including during professional trips. Le Monde did not identify the bodyguards by name for security reasons.”
Movement data that is trackable on Strava is an open door to potential security breaches.
“’Companies love our data, and we love the product, so we give away the data for free’, he said. ‘The government really needs to start cracking down on how data can be used and how long it can be retained’.”
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