Fitness app Strava offers the location of Biden, Trump and other leaders, a French newspaper says

PARIS — An investigation by the French newspaper Le Monde found that the top-secret movements of US President Joe Biden, US presidential rivals Donald Trump and Kamala Harris, and other world leaders can be easily tracked online through an app the exercise their guards use.

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

Le Monde has discovered that some US Secret Service employees use the Strava fitness app, including in the weeks that have just passed after two attempts to kill Trump, in a video investigation released in French and English. Strava is a fitness tracking app widely used by runners and cyclists to record their activities and share their workouts with the public.

Le Monde also found Strava users among the security staff of French President Emmanuel Macron and Russian President Vladimir Putin. In another example, Le Monde followed the Strava movements of Macron’s guards to find that the French leader spent a weekend in the Normandy seaside resort of Honfleur in 2021. The trip was intended to be private’ and it was not listed in the president’s official agenda.

Le Monde said the whereabouts of Melania Trump and Jill Biden can also be determined by tracking their Strava trackers.

In a statement to Le Monde, the US Secret Service said that its employees are not allowed to use electronic devices while on duty during security operations, but “we do not restrict the employee’s use of information of society without work.”

It said: “Affected staff have been notified. We will review this information to determine if training or guidance is required.”

“We are not assessing whether there have been impacts on security operations or threats to any security forces,” it added. Locations are “frequently announced as part of public schedule releases.”

In another example, Le Monde reports that Strava province of the agent of the US Secret Service revealed the location of the hotel where Biden stayed in San Francisco for high-level talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2023. A few hours before Biden he arrived, the representative. the newspaper found that he ran and ran from the hotel while running using Strava which tracked the way he walked.

Journalists say they have identified 26 US agents, 12 members of the French GSPR, the Security Team of the President of the Republic, and six members of the Russian FSO, or Federal Protection Service, all of whom are responsible for of presidential security. they had public accounts on Strava, so they communicated their movements online, including during professional tours. Le Monde did not identify the guards by name for security reasons.

It said that movements that could be tracked on Strava could lead to security breaches, especially when security personnel make advance visits to places such as hotels where leaders stay and hold meetings.

Macron’s office said on Monday that the consequences of the news reported by Le Monde “are very small and do not affect the security of the President of the Republic in any way.”

Local authorities are aware of Macron’s movements ahead of time and Macron’s residences are kept completely safe, “so there is no danger,” the statement said.

“However, a reminder was issued to delegates by the chief of staff asking them not to use this device,” Macron’s office added.

The Harris campaign has passed on the security issue to federal officials. In response to questions from the Trump campaign, a spokeswoman for the Republican National Committee repeated some of its criticisms of the Biden administration but did not comment on weaknesses or whether the campaign had responded. how.

The security risks associated with fitness apps point to the need for better rules on how tech companies can use consumer data, according to Ibrahim Baggili, a computer scientist and cybersecurity professor. at Louisiana State University.

Baggili’s research has exposed how bad actors can use fitness app data to track potential victims – creating opportunities for stalking, theft and other crimes.

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

“Companies like our information, and we like the product, so we’re giving the information away for free,” he said.

Identifying the president’s bodyguards – some of whom use their full names on Strava – could also help find more information about their addresses, their families, their movements and the photos they posted on social media. a variety of social media, all of which could be used. put pressure on them for dangerous purposes, the report stressed.

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AP reporter David Klepper contributed from Washington.