'Someone's getting fired': How Navy officer's workout data leaked French carrier's location amid Iran war

The Navy officer, while on the warship, recorded the workout on his Strava account and a French news outlet traced his location on the app.

Amid the ongoing war involving the US, Israel, and Iran, a fitness app has grabbed headlines. The app, Strava, allows users to log workout data, which is visible to everyone unless privacy settings are updated.

The location of the Charles de Gaulle in the Mediterranean near Cyprus was exposed after a young naval officer logged his 36-minute workout on a public Strava profile. (Screenshot from Le Monde)

A young French navy officer made the mistake of recording his workout while jogging on the deck of an aircraft carrier, Charles-de-Gaulle, in the Mediterranean sea. Le Monde, a French news outlet, was able to track the carrier while it was deployed by France to help protect its allies facing the consequences of the conflict in the Middle East. The officer’s workout data on the Strava app exposed the carrier’s location. This report raised a question: If a news outlet could trace it, why couldn’t the Iranians?

The Middle East is currently witnessing commercial ships, energy hubs, and civilian infrastructure being targeted. Given that France had deployed the aircraft carrier to strengthen protection for its allies in these conflict-hit waters, this was a major and embarrassing lapse.

The outlet also posted a screenshot of the Strava data showing the officer completing 7 kilometres in less than 40 minutes on the carrier’s deck.

How Strava tracks location?

When you start a workout and record it on the Strava app, it logs latitude and longitude points continuously. These points are plotted onto a map to show your path. Time, speed, elevation, and distance are stored alongside the route. The activity syncs to Strava’s servers and becomes visible depending on privacy settings.

If your profile is public, anyone can view your route. If your account is private, your followers can check your route. Also, there i a feature called Heatmap on Strava which aggregates millions of activities into a global map showing frequently used paths. The Heatmap is most likely to have given the details of the French carrier.

The officer is likely to be fired

An X user reacted to the report, suggesting the naval officer involved could be fired. That may not be far-fetched, given France has already banned such apps and dealt with similar breaches linked to Strava in the past.

According to a New York Post report, security personnel for French President Emmanuel Macron—along with those of US presidents and Russia’s Vladimir Putin—used the app as recently as last year, inadvertently exposing their identities through its location-sharing feature.

Meanwhile, Le Monde reported that the France's Armed Forces General Staff said that “appropriate measures will be taken by the command" on the sailor for violating digital security protocols.