Fitness apps raise security alarms for high-profile figures
Tracking activity in fitness apps can be misleading, even with the highest levels of privacy and security care. There is no exception for Vladimir Putin's employees, who, as revealed by Le Monde, shared their location information online in the Strava app.
Through their analysis, unauthorized individuals could draw accurate conclusions about the locations of FSB officers, and consequently, Vladimir Putin's location, according to a publication by Le Monde. This issue also affects the bodyguards of other prominent leaders, including Emmanuel Macron and US presidents. A lack of awareness or insufficient care in configuring the Strava app on personal phones can, as in these cases, expose crucial information meant to remain guarded by these leaders.
This is just one example illustrating what kind of information can be gleaned from seemingly safe, statistical analysis of publicly shared location data in apps designed to track sports progress. Several years ago, it was discovered that such information allowed unauthorized individuals to recreate observation paths traveled by soldiers, unknowingly "drawing" the route on a map.
The service unian.ua points out that these oversights allowed tracking the professional activities of FSB officers on the internet without their knowledge, which also led to further conclusions—such as confirming Putin's presence in locations that were strictly confidential or in a palace he had previously denied owning.
Of course, the described cases do not mean that a private user of a fitness app should completely avoid these conveniences (although for complete privacy, such a course of action might be advisable).
It's important to highlight that the data collected by these apps is anonymous, so as long as it does not involve a large group of people moving in a synchronized manner, it's difficult to draw definite conclusions from it and identify a specific user. This example thus demonstrates in practice the significant oversights related to high-level services in cases where such lapses should be unacceptable.
