Fitness devices may leak US military information

Strava is a fitness tracking software developer whose products leverage mobile GPS to track when and where a fitness user is and aim to create a social network for exercisers. Last November, the company released a map showing the physical activity of users from around the world - the Global Heatmap, a global user fitness route heat map generated by Strava using GPS information on fitness wristbands and other devices. As the military promotion of fitness bracelets, the United States soldier around the world has become a loyal user of such products.

Global Heatmap was released in November 2017 and includes GPS information for about 27 million users between 2015 and 2017. Just recently, Nathan Ruser, an analyst at the Institute for United Conflict, found something that people probably would not have thought of at all - a map that would make it easy for some to find the location of a military base and the daily activities of people there. In war-torn areas such as the Middle East, locals do not use the "high-end" equipment such as fitness bracelets, so the content displayed on the heat map clearly reveals the confidential locations, base locations, supply lines and patrol routes of the local U.S. military personnel. In addition to the United States, Russia's sensitive information was also leaked, including its base in Syria.

In response, he posted several screenshots on Twitter to validate his theory, which shows the regular jogging routes, patrols and front-line operations in Afghanistan. In response, a spokesman for the U.S. Central Command and Air Force Colonel John Thomas told the media that the military was investigating the heat map. Earlier, the U.S. military was already aware of similar problems. To this end, the military has made provisions prohibiting service personnel from bringing personal electronic devices to sensitive areas. In this situation, I will also suggest you guys try some smart devices from other countries like the xiaomi mi fitness tracker so that your personal privacy can be protected better.

Strava spokesman said the company has been working to make users better understand their privacy settings, the map on behalf of the user uploaded to the platform of anonymous activity data, but does not include from the marked as private or user-defined privacy Regional activities.