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The Star
6 days ago
- Politics
- The Star
Bodyguards using fitness app revealed locations of Swedish leaders
LONDON: Trying to keep fit with runs through Central Park, a jog around a tropical island and a bicycle ride around Stockholm, bodyguards in Sweden inadvertently revealed the secret locations of the Swedish leaders they were assigned to protect. An investigation by a Swedish newspaper revealed that bodyguards for Sweden's royal family and Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson uploaded their workout routes to Strava , a fitness app that allows users to map and share their movements. The popular app has built a global social media community, but its users' enthusiastic uploads have also raised questions about data privacy, especially among security and military personnel. In Sweden, the investigation added to the security concerns of a country that was recently rattled by what it called an 'act of sabotage' against an undersea cable. This week, the Swedish daily newspaper Dagens Nyheter reported that it tracked more than 1,400 workouts by seven bodyguards over the last year. The data showed that the bodyguards trained in the Alps, along Ukraine's border with Poland and at a military base in Mali. Sweden's security police confirmed that the data was linked to some employees of the secret service. Their routes gave away the address of the prime minister's private residence, as well as the location of a personal trip he took with his wife in October. Kristersson is also an avid runner, and while he had avoided sharing his routes, his bodyguards' data made it easy to track his preferred path. The Strava data also revealed a high-level meeting in Norway in June 2024, unannounced at the time, between Kristersson and the leaders of Norway and Finland, and the locations and routines of other senior Swedish politicians, including two former prime ministers. The prime minister's office said it would not comment on security matters. The locations of Sweden's royal family and the leader of Sweden's opposition were also compromised. A bodyguard's run along a beachfront in Tel Aviv, Israel, was matched to an unannounced visit to Israel by Jimmie Akesson, the leader of Sweden's far-right party, the Sweden Democrats. (The party did not respond to a request for comment.) Bodyguards assigned to King Carl Gustaf and Queen Silvia shared their data online, including a run around a luxury resort in the Seychelles, the Indian Ocean archipelago, where the royal couple were vacationing in March 2023, the newspaper reported. In one instance, a bodyguard's post revealed how to pass through the Drottningholm Palace, the king and queen's permanent residence outside of Stockholm. Sweden's Royal Court said in an email that it did not comment on 'security-related matters'. Sweden's security police said it was investigating the effect of the publicised data. 'To be clear, there has not been a leak or breach of user data,' a Strava spokesperson said in an emailed statement Friday, adding that users control their privacy on the app. 'We expect Strava users working in sensitive professions to leverage the privacy settings available.' This is not the first time the fitness app has raised national security concerns. In 2018, the Pentagon banned the use of Strava in combat zones after analysts found that its data inadvertently revealed the locations and movements of military personnel in Syria and Afghanistan. In 2023, a Russian submarine commander who shared his workouts on Strava was killed while on a run, according to CNN and reports by the Russian news agency Tass. Last year, the French newspaper Le Monde published an investigative series showing how the app can be used to easily track world leaders, including President Vladimir Putin of Russia and former President Joe Biden, the locations of France's nuclear submarines, and operations by the Israeli military. – ©2025 The New York Times Company This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
Time of India
12-07-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
Bodyguards' fitness app reveals locations of Swedish leaders
LONDON: Trying to keep fit with runs through Central Park, a jog around a tropical island and bicycle ride around Stockholm, bodyguards in Sweden inadvertently revealed secret locations of Swedish leaders they were assigned to protect. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now An investigation by a Swedish newspaper revealed bodyguards for Sweden's royal family and PM Ulf Kristersson uploaded their workout routes to Strava, a fitness app that allows users to map and share their movements. The popular app has built a global social media community, but users' enthusiastic uploads have also raised questions about data privacy, especially among security personnel. In Sweden, the data reveal added to security concerns of a country that was recently rattled by what it called an "act of sabotage" against an undersea cable. This week, Swedish daily newspaper Dagens Nyheter reported it tracked over 1,400 workouts by seven bodyguards over last year. The data showed the bodyguards trained in the Alps, along Ukraine's border with Poland and at a military base in Mali. Sweden's security police confirmed the data was linked to some employees of secret service. Their routes gave away the address of the PM's private residence. The Strava data also revealed a high-level meeting in Norway in June 2024, unannounced at the time, between Kristersson and leaders of Norway and Finland. Sweden's security police said it was investigating the effect of the publicised data. "To be clear, there has not been a leak or breach of user data," a Strava spokesperson said in a statement Friday.
Local Sweden
11-07-2025
- Politics
- Local Sweden
Swedish Moderates pull plug on AI site after it sends greetings to Hitler and Idi Amin
When the Moderates set up a new AI tool ahead of the election, Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson accidentally sending personal greetings to Adolf Hitler wasn't what they had in mind. Advertisement The Moderates launched the tool with the intention that users could send AI messages from Kristersson to encourage others to join the party ahead of the 2026 election. But the service wasn't given any limitations or filters, which broadcaster TV4 Nyheterna reports generated greetings to dubious figures including German Nazi leader Hitler, former Ugandan dictator Idi Amin and Norwegian terrorist Anders Behring Breivik. In one video clip, Kristersson is seen talking about the importance of the upcoming election, while holding an AI-generated sign that reads 'We need you, Adolf Hitler'. Underneath the clip, Hitler is asked if he wants to become their new colleague. The service was switched off on Thursday. 'It was brought to our attention that it was possible to abuse our new campaign by writing inappropriate names. We therefore shut down the site as soon as we became aware of it,' said operational campaign manager Maria Sognefors. Advertisement She said they were talking with the service provider to understand what went wrong. 'Previous campaigns in the same vein have for example had a blacklist that has prevented this kind of abuse,' Sognefors told TV4 Nyheterna in a message. 'It's sad that there are people who do this kind of thing.'
Euronews
09-07-2025
- Politics
- Euronews
Swedish PM's movements leaked by bodyguards using Strava fitness app
Swedish secret service bodyguards who uploaded details of their running and cycling routes on the fitness app Strava have been accused of exposing sensitive information about the prime minister's location and risking his safety. On at least 35 occasions, bodyguards for Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson shared their workouts on the app and revealed his location, routes and movements — including details of hotels and his private residences — Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter reported. The newspaper tracked more than 1,400 workouts uploaded to Strava by seven bodyguards who have protected individuals in the Swedish government over the past year. One bodyguard posted on Strava details of a run in Bodø in Norway while Kristersson was meeting with his Norwegian and Finnish counterparts, Jonas Gahr Støre and Alexander Stubb, the report said. A few months later, Kristersson shared a photo on Instagram of the three leaders running together. The sensitive information leaked on Strava also showed Kristersson's running routes and locations of overnight trips overseas, including a private family holiday to Åland, an autonomous region of Finland, last October, according to Dagens Nyheter. The data was also linked to the Swedish royal family, the leader of the Social Democrats and former Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson, and Jimmie Åkesson, head of the government-backing Sweden Democrats party. After the article was published, the Strava profiles in question were either made private or taken offline. Sweden's security service (Sapo) said it would review its procedures. "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," a spokesperson said. This is the latest in a string of security gaffes involving Strava and the security of heads of state. Earlier this year, French newspaper Le Monde revealed that crew members of France's nuclear submarines had inadvertently given away sensitive information about their positions and patrol schedules by sharing their workouts on the fitness app. In October, Le Monde published another investigation related to Strava, revealing that the whereabouts of French President Emmanuel Macron and US President Joe Biden could be traced because their security agents were using the app while on detail. And back in 2018, military analysts observed that soldiers using the app to track their runs were giving away the locations of secret US army bases and spy outposts.
Local Sweden
08-07-2025
- Politics
- Local Sweden
Säpo bodyguards' Strava runs 'reveal locations of Swedish PM and royals'
Bodyguards from the Swedish Security Police (Säpo) have accidentally revealed the location of Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson and members of the royal family on multiple occasions by uploading runs or rides to the Strava training app, it has been claimed. Advertisement The information was leaked when seven bodyguards uploaded their runs to popular training app Strava, newspaper Dagens Nyheter (DN) reports. The bodyguards had public accounts on the app and uploaded runs that included maps of routes, the time of day they were carried out and even the pace. This information, the newspaper reports, could in the worst case scenario be used by someone planning an attack on Kristersson to work out his location and address. Strava information has previously been used for this type of attack elsewhere. In 2023, a Russian commander was killed whilst out on a run ‒ his last recorded workout on Strava was 'liked' by the head of Ukraine's military intelligence services. Using the Strava info Dagens Nyheter was able to map Kristersson's location on at least 35 occasions, including discovering the location of his home in Södermanland, which is classified, and the hotel the prime minister and his wife were staying at when on a private trip to Åland. The bodyguards' Strava runs also revealed the location of other officials, like members of the royal family, former prime ministers Magdalena Andersson and Stefan Löfven, and Sweden Democrat leader Jimmie Åkesson, the newspaper claimed. "This is very serious," security expert Carolina Angelis, who has a background in Swedish intelligence services, told Dagens Nyheter. "Potential threats use all open information which is available to map people and track their movement patterns. If you know that someone always runs on Djurgården on Saturdays at 3pm then it becomes much easier to plan an attack or kidnapping," she said. Advertisement The newspaper collected data on more than 1,400 runs, in Sweden and abroad, which in some cases revealed trips by public officials which had not been made public. Some of the bodyguards recorded runs from within Säpo's headquarters in Solna, providing information on their movements within the classified building. "The information revealed in this investigation is something we take very seriously," Carolina Björnsdotter Paasikivi, Säpo's head of security, told DN. "This is information which could be used to track Security Police activities. We're now investigating what effects this could have had." DN contacted Säpo and alerted them to the leak, giving them three days to fix it. Afterwards, the accounts were closed or made private. Paasikivi added that the agency "has routines for this" but that it appears that they have not been followed in some cases. "We're undertaking measures to make sure our guidelines are followed. Other than that, I can't go into our internal work in more detail other than we are taking measures to make sure it won't happen again."
