Israeli private intelligence firm FakeReporter reported that elements of the Israeli military may have been spying on unnamed enemy forces using a popular fitness app.
Strava is a California-developed software available on both iOS and Android that uses GPS to record cycling and runs, which the user can use to track lap times or share on social media. It currently has about 95 million users in 195 countries around the world.
According to FakeReporter, a suspicious user named “This Shehl” uploaded a fake route to the platform, and then received the name, photo and address of those still working in the area. The area in question was the headquarters of the Israeli intelligence service, the Mossad. This information is released by Strava even if the account is set to private at all levels.
In the well-known example of the Guardian, the movement of an employee of the Israeli nuclear program to various military installations and abroad can be traced.
After the company notified the Israeli army of the vulnerability, the problem was also brought to the developer’s attention. A senior Israeli Defense Ministry official said they knew about a hundred people could be affected.
Photo: Petstock/Instagram/Strava
Doubts about Strava’s safety first arose in 2018 when the company released a map of the world showing all of its fitness activities, including secret bases in Afghanistan and Syria in the US, and a lone cyclist at the legendary research site Secret 51 Nevada Military. Strava then defended himself using public information.
Regarding the situation that has just arisen, Strava said: Data security is very important to them and measures have been taken to eliminate the vulnerability. However, FakeReporter CEO Achiya Schatz says it’s questionable if this is also a solution for users.
Despite the well-known situation, the Israeli security forces do not appear to have jumped into this problem. Although Strava has made major changes to its data management, users may become confused and lose data even if their accounts are kept private.
Shatz warned.
