French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle tracked via Strava activity in OPSEC failure

According to Le Monde, France’s aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle was tracked in real time through a sailor’s activity on the Strava app, after a public Strava profile revealed running data from the ship. The data showed the carrier near Cyprus and Turkey in the Mediterranean, exposing its location. On 13 March at 10:35 a.m., Arthur, a young officer in the French Navy, ran about 7 kilometres in thirty-five minutes using a smartwatch, and the data was uploaded to the internet.

The French sailor’s profile was described as “public,” meaning anyone could view it. The piece also notes that President Emmanuel Macron announced the deployment of the naval task force, including the carrier, on 3 March, with the carrier then in the Baltic Sea as part of NATO exercises and scheduled to remain there until May. The case underscores ongoing security risks from fitness apps, which can reveal sensitive military positions despite prior warnings.