A popular but dangerous sports app. Strava, which allows you to record sports activities using GPS, is used by many running (but also cycling) fans, including agents from the security group of the Presidency of the Republic (GSPR). However, due to his reckless behavior, the jogging of Emmanuel Macron’s bodyguards made it possible to follow his movements, Le Monde reveals.
While exploring abroad a few hours before the president’s arrival, they unknowingly revealed their position by transmitting the route corresponding to their racing sessions.
As part of its “StravaLeaks” investigation, the French newspaper explains in a video how it managed to identify the movements of the President of the Republic through Strava. In particular, especially sensitive and secret places: the hotels where he stays during his travels.
Tokyo, Saint Petersburg or Jerusalem
Le Monde found in detail the profiles of 12 of Emmanuel Macron’s bodyguards on the running application. By browsing them, journalists were able to access the jogging route taken in Tokyo, Saint Petersburg and even Jerusalem, a few days before the president’s arrival.
In fact, GSPR officers went there a few days before him to secure the scene. They often take the opportunity to go jogging, which they record on Strava, thus revealing in advance where Emmanuel Macron will be. Although their movements are usually announced in advance, the place of their stay is confidential.
However, it is possible to find out with Strava. On September 28, 2020, for example, the president was in Vilnius, Lithuania. Three days before his arrival, one of his bodyguards was there and he went for a run, ending up at the foot of a five-star hotel and recorded on the running app. Hotel where Emmanuel Macron will stay a few days later, but also where he spoke with the main figure of the Belarusian opposition exiled in the country for his own safety.
In total, Le Monde points out that it identified Emmanuel Macron’s hotel ten times before his stay there. Contacted by the media, the Elysée nevertheless minimized the risks of the security breach, ensuring that “the consequences of the events mentioned by Le Monde related to the use of the Strava application by certain members of the GSPR on the occasion of his jogging, are very weak and in no way has an impact on the security of the President of the Republic.
In addition to Emmanuel Macron’s travels, the security breach also endangers his bodyguards. As Le Monde points out, several of them expose their private lives on Strava, indicating their real name, but also publishing photographs with members of their family or allowing their address to be identified while they are jogging. Elements that could be used to pressure them and undermine the president’s security, the media warns.
GSPR members are far from the first to be betrayed by their public activity on Strava. For many years, members of the DGSE could also be tracked in the same way, sometimes during secret missions abroad.
Source: BFM TV
