A French sailor grossly disregarded cybersecurity rules and revealed the exact location of a French aircraft carrier in the Mediterranean Sea via the fitness app Strava.
A French sailor grossly disregarded cybersecurity rules and revealed the exact location of a French aircraft carrier in the Mediterranean Sea via the fitness app Strava.
The New York Post reports, citing French newspaper Le Monde. The location of the aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle in the Mediterranean Sea near Cyprus became known after a young naval officer recorded his 36-minute workout on his public Strava profile, allowing anyone to track the ship and its fleet in real time.
The Strava app is used by about 120 million people around the world — it allows runners and cyclists to record and share their workouts online.
On March 13, a sailor used his smartwatch to record a run of more than 7 km along the ship’s deck. At the time, the aircraft carrier was off the Turkish coast, about two weeks after US and Israeli air strikes on Iran. France announced the deployment of the aircraft carrier on March 3.
At least one other sailor is also reportedly posting geotagged training footage from another French Navy ship on a combat mission, posting photos of the deck, crew members, and training equipment on board.
Last year, French Navy personnel leaked classified information about submarine patrols via the fitness app Strava. At the time, crew members used the app to jog while at the Ile-Long naval facility in Brest, western France. It is home to four nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines, each capable of carrying 16 nuclear missiles.
In 2023, Stanislav Rzhitsky, deputy head of the mobilization department and former submarine commander, who, according to media reports, may have been involved in missile strikes on Ukraine, was shot dead in Krasnodar, Russia. He was tracked down, probably through the Strava app, where he posted his runs.
