World leaders’ locations exposed through Strava running app

Bodyguards accidentally disclosed whereabouts of Macron, Putin and US presidents

Bodyguards using the Strava fitness app have exposed the locations of the subjects they’re meant to protect, claims an investigation by French newspaper Le Monde.

Fitness enthusiasts use Strava to track their activities, but they can also share those activities with other users – their running route, for example.

That’s got the app into hot water before – back in 2018, for example, when its heatmap feature revealed military base locations.

Now Le Monde has found that bodyguards, including those protecting world leaders in France, the USA and Russia, are regular users of the app.

In total journalists identified 26 US 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.

The paper was able to track French President Emmanuel Macron’s bodyguards to determine the leader had spent a weekend in the Normandy seaside resort of Honfleur in 2021 – a trip that was supposed to be private.

Le Monde also says it was able to track leaders’ partners, including Jill Biden and Melania Trump, through their bodyguards’ Strava profiles.

The Pentagon cracked down on the use of fitness trackers and similar devices among military and security personnel back in 2018. In a statement the Secret Service confirmed that bodyguards aren’t allowed to use these devices while on-duty, but “we do not prohibit an employee’s personal use of social media off-duty.”

The French GSPR also played down the severity of the breach, claiming the issues “are very slight and in no way affect the security of the President of the Republic.”

Despite that, the chief of staff has issued a reminder to agents asking them not to use Strava.

The Harris campaign declined to comment. The Trump campaign used the opportunity to lash out at the Biden administration, without responding to the vulnerability.