NATO soldiers' fitness app exposes sensitive base locations

According to the portal Służby i Obywatel, soldiers located at Polish bases unknowingly shared information about the routes they travelled. This is due to the Strava app, which monitors the distance travelled by the user.

Sharing information on social media can be dangerous, especially if you're a NATO soldier. Strava allows users to create maps of the routes they have travelled and share them with other users, and this very function may have led to the disclosure of strategic information about the Polish bases.

By sharing locations on Strava, users can create route maps and compete with each other, which is theoretically supposed to be motivational. Within the app, you can view a list of results on a given route with precise locations, dates, and names. It's worth noting that most users log in with their real data. In this way, one can trace the routes of the military in the places where they are stationed.

Thanks to the analysis of data shared by runners, we can identify the presence of the National Guard, for example, from states like Iowa, Illinois, or Virginia, who are stationed in Żagań. Information regarding communication officers allows for direct contact with hundreds of soldiers stationed in Poland.

The app's data collection issue does not concern only American soldiers. The app confirms that Ukrainians are being trained by French military personnel in Wędrzyn. Widespread routes, such as "Tour du Lac" or "Côte le long de la route," indicate the activity of hundreds of users.

Information about the presence of foreign military forces in Poland becomes public when personnel use social apps indiscreetly. In total, about 10,000 Americans and hundreds of members from other NATO countries are stationed in Poland. It's estimated that 2% of them use the app, which allows for the identification of personnel in particular bases. Due to security concerns, it seems inevitable to introduce regulations related to the use of such apps.