Newsroom
A fitness tracking app has once again come under scrutiny after publicly shared exercise data appeared to reveal the position of a major military vessel operating in the eastern Mediterranean, close to Cyprus.
Reports in French media indicate that a member of the French navy recorded a jogging session on the Strava platform while aboard a ship at sea. The activity, which was visible on the user’s public profile, showed the runner moving in repeated loops in waters northwest of Cyprus on 13 March.
Interestingly, while the name Strava is derived from the Swedish word sträva, meaning “to strive,” the same word written in Greek (pronounced stra-VA) takes on a very different meaning. It translates to “crooked,” “askew,” or “not quite right,” an ironic linguistic twist given the apparent misstep in this case.
Satellite imagery reviewed alongside the data suggested that the French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle was operating in the same area at the time, raising concerns that the vessel’s location may have been unintentionally disclosed.
The incident comes during heightened tensions in the region. France deployed the Charles de Gaulle and accompanying warships to the eastern Mediterranean in early March, following the outbreak of conflict triggered by US-Israeli strikes on Iran.
French President Emmanuel Macron has described the deployment as a defensive move aimed at supporting allies and maintaining stability in the region. Since 9 March, the carrier group has remained active in waters relatively close to Cyprus, underlining the island’s strategic importance as a monitoring point in the eastern Mediterranean.
The same Strava account reportedly showed earlier activity in northern Europe. In late February, the user logged runs in Copenhagen, including a route across a bridge from Malmö, a period when the Charles de Gaulle was docked nearby. This sequence of data points appears to trace the movements of the vessel from northern Europe to the Mediterranean.
France’s armed forces acknowledged the reports and said an internal review would follow if the details are confirmed. Officials emphasised that personnel are regularly warned about the dangers of sharing location data through fitness apps and other digital platforms.
A statement noted that, if accurate, the case would represent a breach of existing security guidelines.
This is not the first time that publicly shared exercise data has raised security concerns. Previous investigations have shown that location-tracking apps can inadvertently expose sensitive information about military personnel and high-profile figures.
In 2024, reporting by Le Monde revealed that security teams accompanying world leaders, including those protecting Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin, had unintentionally shared details of their movements through similar platforms.
Even earlier, in 2018, aggregated Strava heat maps highlighted the presence and movement patterns of US and allied troops in conflict zones such as Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan. While some of these locations were already known, the data also appeared to expose routes taken outside secure bases, information that could potentially be exploited.
With information from Euronews.
