War in the Middle East: the aircraft carrier “Charles de Gaulle” located on the open sea using the Strava sports application

A new example of recklessness linked to the running application. This Thursday, Le Monde located the French aircraft carrier “Charles de Gaulle” in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, off the coast of Cyprus and around a hundred kilometers from Turkey. To do this, the newspaper used Strava data from an officer on board.

On March 13, the sailor did his usual jogging on the deck of the ship. His performance (nearly 7 km in 35 minutes) is recorded by the connected watch he wears. Since her Strava profile is “public,” anyone who logs into the app can access it.

The army general staff, contacted by Le Monde, explains that this practice is “not in accordance with the instructions in force” to which sailors are “regularly made aware”. “Adapted measures will be taken by the command,” assures the staff.

Macron’s bodyguards already pinned

This imprudence is not a first. In October 2024, Le Monde published “StravaLeaks”, revealing that certain security agents of sensitive personalities such as Emmanuel Macron and Vladimir Putin were publishing their training sessions on Strava. Many users were thus able to follow the movements and find the vacation spots of French and Russian heads of state.

Emmanuel Macron highlighted last week the “defensive role” of France in the war in the Middle East. Paris has strengthened its system in the region to “protect French nationals” in the area and provide support to France’s partners, such as Lebanon or the countries of the Arabian Peninsula, with some of which Paris has signed defense agreements.

At the center of this deployment are the French aircraft carrier and its carrier strike group in the eastern Mediterranean. According to Macron, this device is called upon to mobilize eight frigates and two amphibious helicopter carriers in a vast area also including the Red Sea and the Strait of Hormuz in the Gulf.