Fitness app Strava gives away the location of Biden, Trump and other leaders, the French newspaper says

PARIS (AP) — An investigation by French newspaper Le Monde has found that the U.S. president’s highly confidential movements Joe Bidenpresidential rivals Donald Trump And Kamala Harrisand other world leaders can easily be followed online through a fitness app that their bodyguards use.

But the US Secret Service told the newspaper that it does not believe the protection it provides has been compromised in any way.

Le Monde discovered that some agents of the US Secret Service use the Strava fitness appalso in the past few weeks two assassination attempts on Trumpin a video investigation released in French and English. Strava is a fitness tracking app used primarily by runners and cyclists to record their activities and share their workouts with a community.

Le Monde also found Strava users among the French president’s security staff 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 resort of Honfleur in 2021. The trip was intended to be private and was not on the president’s official agenda.

Le Monde said the whereabouts of Melania Trump and Jill Biden could also be discovered by following the Strava profiles of their bodyguards.

In a statement to Le Monde, the U.S. Secret Service said its personnel are not allowed to use personal electronic devices while on duty during protective assignments, but that “we do not prohibit the personal use of social media by an off-duty employee.”

“Affected personnel have been notified,” the report said. “We will review this information to determine if additional training or guidance is needed.”

“We do not assess that there was any impact on protective operations or threats to any protected persons,” it added. Locations “are announced regularly as part of public planning releases.”

In another example, Le Monde reported that a U.S. Secret Service agent’s Strava profile revealed the location of a hotel where Biden was subsequently staying in San Francisco. Talks are on the cards with Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2023. A few hours before Biden’s arrival, the officer went jogging from the hotel with the help of Strava, which tracked his route, the newspaper found.

The newspaper’s journalists say they have identified 26 American agents, 12 members of France’s GSPR, the Security Group of the Presidency of the Republic, and six members of Russia’s FSO, the Federal Protective Service, all responsible for presidential security . had public accounts on Strava and therefore communicated their movements online, including during professional trips. Le Monde did not name the bodyguards for security reasons.

It said movements tracked on Strava could lead to security breaches, especially when security officers travel in advance to places such as hotels where leaders then stay and hold meetings.

Macron’s office said on Monday that the consequences of the problems reported by Le Monde “are very minor and in no way affect the security of the President of the Republic.”

Local authorities are aware of Macron’s movements in advance and the places where Macron stays are always completely safe, “so the risk is non-existent,” the statement said.

“Nevertheless, a reminder was sent to the officers by the chief of staff asking them not to use this app,” Macron’s office added.

The Harris campaign deferred comment on the security issue to federal officials. In response to questions to the Trump campaign, a spokesperson for the Republican National Committee reiterated some of his criticisms of the Biden administration but did not elaborate on the vulnerability or how the campaign has responded.

The security risks associated with fitness apps show the need for better regulation of how tech companies can use consumer data, said Ibrahim Baggili, a computer scientist and professor of cybersecurity at Louisiana State University.

Baggili’s research has exposed how bad actors can use data from fitness apps to track potential victims, posing risks for stalking, theft and other crimes.

Consumers often give app developers the right to use or sell their data if they agree to terms of service, Baggili said.

“Companies love our data, and we love the product, so we give the data away for free,” he said. “The government really needs to crack down on the way data can be used and how long it can be kept.”

Identifying the presidential bodyguards – some are using their full names on Strava – could also help find other details about their personal addresses, their families, their movements and photos they have posted on various social media, all of which could potentially are used to pressure them for malicious purposes, the report points out.

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AP reporter David Klepper contributed from Washington.