PARIS (AP) — An investigation by French newspaper Le Monde found that the U.S. president’s highly confidential movements Joe Bidenpresidential rivals Donald Trump And Kamala Harrisand other world leaders can be easily tracked online through a fitness app used by their bodyguards.

But the US Secret Service told the newspaper it did not believe the protection it provides had been compromised in any way.

Le Monde discovered that certain American secret service agents use the fitness app Stravaincluding these last few weeks after two assassination attempts against Trumpin a video investigation broadcast in French and English. Strava is a fitness tracking app primarily used by runners and cyclists to record their activities and share their workouts with a community.

Le Monde also found Strava users among the French president’s security agents Emmanuel Macron and the Russian president Vladimir Putin. For example, Le Monde traced the Strava movements of Macron’s bodyguards to determine that the French leader had spent a weekend in the Normandy resort of Honfleur in 2021. The trip was supposed to be private and was not listed on the list. The president’s official agenda.

Le Monde said Melania Trump and Jill Biden’s whereabouts could also be tracked by following their bodyguards’ Strava profiles.

In a statement to Le Monde, the US Secret Service said its personnel are not permitted to use personal electronic devices while on duty on protective missions, but “we do not prohibit an employee from using media social activities for personal purposes outside of working hours.

“Affected personnel have been informed,” the statement said. “We will review this information to determine if additional training or guidance is necessary.”

“We do not assess whether there have been impacts on protection operations or threats to protected persons,” the statement added. Locations “are regularly disclosed as part of public calendar releases.”

In another example, Le Monde reported that a U.S. Secret Service agent’s Strava profile revealed the location of a hotel where Biden later stayed in San Francisco for high-stakes negotiations with Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2023. Hours before Biden’s arrival, the agent went jogging from the hotel, using Strava which mapped his route, according to the newspaper.

The newspaper’s journalists claim to have identified 26 American agents, 12 members of the French GSPR, the Security Group of the Presidency of the Republic, and six members of the Russian FSO, or Federal Protective Service, all in charge of presidential security, who had public accounts on Strava and therefore communicated their movements online, including during business trips. Le Monde did not identify the bodyguards by name for security reasons.

He said movements trackable on Strava could lead to security breaches, particularly when security officers travel in advance to places like hotels where leaders then stay and hold meetings.

Macron’s services indicated Monday that the consequences of the facts reported by Le Monde “are very slight and in no way affect the security of the President of the Republic.”

Local authorities are informed in advance of Macron’s movements and the places where Macron stays are always fully secure, “the risk is therefore non-existent”, the statement said.

“A reminder was nevertheless sent to the agents by the chief of staff to ask them not to use this application,” added the Macron cabinet.

The Harris campaign referred comments on the security issue to federal officials. In response to questions for the Trump campaign, a spokesperson for the Republican National Committee reiterated some of its criticisms of the Biden administration, but did not address the vulnerability or how the campaign responded .

The security risks associated with fitness apps show the need for better regulations on how tech companies can use consumer data, according to Ibrahim Baggili, a computer scientist and cybersecurity professor at Louisiana State University.

Baggili’s research revealed how bad actors could use data from fitness apps to track potential victims, creating risks for stalking, theft and other crimes.

Consumers often grant app developers the right to use or sell their data when they agree to terms of service, Baggili said.

“Companies love our data and we love the product, which is why we give it away for free,” he said. “The government really needs to start cracking down on how data can be used and how long it can be kept. »

Identifying presidential bodyguards – some of them using their full names on Strava – could also help find other details about their home addresses, families, movements and photos they have posted on various social networks , all of which could be used to pressure them for malicious purposes, the report points out.

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AP reporter David Klepper contributed from Washington.

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