Swedish PM's safety jeopardised by Strava data shared by bodyguards
Ulf Kristersson's bodyguards appear to have inadvertently revealed his location, routes and movements – including details of hotels and his private addresses – by uploading their workouts to the app, making them publicly available.
The Dagens Nyheter newspaper tracked more than 1,400 training activities carried out by seven bodyguards who have protected people in government positions over the past year. Their findings covered locations across the world – including close to the Ukrainian border in Poland, the seafront in Tel Aviv, ski slopes in the Alps, Central Park in New York, military bases in Mali and an island in the Seychelles.
At least 35 times bodyguards shared information that directly linked to the prime minister and his regular locations including his private home, which is supposed to be kept secret.
The routes also reportedly revealed Kristersson's own running routes and locations of overnight trips abroad, including a private family trip to Åland, an autonomous region of Finland, in October 2024.
Movement patterns are understood to show how bodyguards move around the government offices in Stockholm and Harpsund, the prime minister's country retreat in Sörmland. The latest run from Harpsund was reportedly shared by a bodyguard just a few weeks ago.
In June 2024, when Kristersson visited Bodø in Norway for a meeting with Jonas Gahr Støre, the Norwegian prime minister, and Alexander Stubb, the Finnish president, one of the bodyguards reportedly posted a run on Strava. A few months later, Kristersson posted a picture on Instagram of the three leaders running together.
The sensitive information leaked on Strava was also found to involve other high-profile members of Swedish society, including the royal family, the leader of the Social Democrats and former prime minister Magdalena Andersson and the Sweden Democrats leader, Jimmie Åkesson.
It is the latest in a string of security scandals faced by Kristersson's government after high-profile issues involving its attempts to hire a national security adviser.
Open profiles on Strava have been a problem for security forces across the world.
In 2023 a former Russian submarine commander was killed reportedly with the help of his open Strava profile and last year it was revealed bodyguards to several world leaders were sharing confidential information on the app.
In 2017, Strava was accused of giving away the location and staffing of military bases and spy outposts around the world by publishing a map that showed all of its users' activity.
Sweden's security service, Säpo, said they were taking the findings 'very seriously' and were investigating.
A Säpo spokesperson said: 'This is information that could be used to map the activities of the security service. In what way it could have had an impact we are now investigating.
'In this context it is also important to know that protection of our protected people is comprised of several layers, of which bodyguard protection is one. In our work we assume that certain information can be known in advance and measure protection based on that.'
They added: 'The security service is taking measures to prevent this from happening again.'
The prime minister's office and the government office declined to comment. A government office spokesperson said they 'do not comment on security surrounding current or former prime ministers or cabinet ministers', referring all questions to Säpo.
Strava did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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