Security risk
Sports app of his bodyguards reveals private data from Sweden’s head of government
Body guards of Sweden Prime Minister Kristerson share their jogging routes with the Strava app – and thus endanger the head of government. The king is also affected.
Millions of people use apps to track their services during sports. This allows users to pursue their progress when jogging or cycling, but the apps also collect a lot of data. This becomes questionable at the latest when it comes to top politicians.
For example with Ulf Kristersson, the Prime Minister of Sweden. Whether the head of government uses such an app itself is unknown – but unlikely due to the safety precautions. But his bodyguards let the Strava app run during sports, reports the newspaper “Dagens Nyheter”. From this, it was drawn to the private address of the Prime Minister and his jogging rounds, on which he is accompanied by bodyguards.
App Strava becomes a security risk
Data from Sweden’s King Carl Gustaf also became public, such as hotel stays or ski routes. The newspaper evaluated more than 1400 training sessions of seven bodyguards who were responsible for the protection of the highest men in the state last year. The information is said to have been at least 35 times in connection with KRISTERSON and its locations. The data was open to the app.
The head of the Swedish intelligence service SePo, Carolina Björnsdotter Paasikivi, told the television station SVT that the bodyguards did not follow the regulations in this regard. The media reporting only found out about it. Justice Minister Gunnar Strömmer announced that “the necessary measures were taken so that something like this would not occur again”.
Emmanuel Macron also knows the problem
Wilhelm Agrell, professor of intelligence agent analysis, made an alarm in an interview with “Dagens Nyheter”. “This data is incredibly useful if you want to switch off the state apparatus,” he said. He was surprised that the bodyguards were not encouraged to pay more attention to data protection.
The problems related to location data in sports apps are not new. As early as 2018, security researchers were able to find them. And also last year had trouble with his too careless bodyguards. In this case too, the bodyguards jogging routes allowed conclusions to be drawn about the president’s whereabouts.
Sources: ,,
EPP
Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
