Written by Katelyn Newman
Operational security for military security forces around the world has been compromised by a fitness app.
In November, Strava – a fitness app that touts itself as a "social network for athletes" – released a global heat map that tracked users' shared running routes using GPS data from FitBits, cellphones and other fitness tracking devices. It boasted tracking a total of 1 billion activities from 2015 through September 2017
But, as one 20-year-old Australian student and analyst for the Institute for United Conflict Analysts pointed out, any military personnel using the app who enabled data sharing may have caused a security breach in remote military bases that are "clearly identifiable and mappable."
"If soldiers use the app like normal people do, by turning it on tracking when they go to do exercise, it could be especially dangerous," Nathan Ruser wrote on Twitter.
A closer review of the app's heat map shows the whereabouts of well-known U.S. military bases as well as other obscure, potentially sensitive locations, which could inform someone who wants to attack or ambush troops at these remote locations.
“The rapid development of new and innovative information technologies enhances the quality of our lives but also poses potential challenges to operational security and force protection,” the Central Command press office in Kuwait said in the statement to the Washington Post.
Military leaders are in the process of reviewing the privacy settings of fitness tracker devices, which the Pentagon has encouraged military personnel to use since 2013.
“DoD takes matters like these very seriously and is reviewing the situation to determine if any additional training or guidance is required, and if any additional policy must be developed to ensure the continued safety of DoD personnel at home and abroad,” Maj. Audricia Harris, a Defense Department spokeswoman, told The Associated Press.
