A simple training has exposed sensitive. A French Navy officer has inadvertently revealed the exact position of the aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle in the Mediterranean after registering a run on the Strava app with your public profile. The route, of just over 7 kilometers, allowed the ship to be located northwest of Cyprus and about 100 kilometers from the Turkish coastin the midst of escalating tension in the Middle East.
The case, , is recurring again: the exposure of military data through sports applications.
How a race reveals a military operation
Everything happened on March 13. At 10:35 in the morning, the officer—identified by the fictitious name of Arthur— He ran around the deck of the ship he was assigned to.. Like millions of users do, he used his smartwatch to record activity.
It wasn’t the race. That’s what came next. The data was automatically uploaded to Strava, since your profile was public and anyone could see the route in almost real time. The result: the exact location of a French naval group in a strategic area.
The route appeared as loops over the water, a pattern typical of someone running on a moving boat. This information, crossed with satellite images taken shortly after, made it possible to confirm the presence of the aircraft carrier in the area.
A particularly sensitive context
The leak does not occur at any given time. France had deployed this naval force days before, after the start of the conflict between Israel, the US and Iran.
President Emmanuel Macron himself announced the operation on March 3. The aircraft carrier’s transit through the Strait of Gibraltar was also made public days later. But there is a key difference: It is one thing to know the general deployment and quite another to have its exact position in real time..
This is especially critical because, in recent weeks, French military bases in the region have been attacked by Iran. In one of these attacks, one soldier was killed and several were injured.
It is not an isolated case
The problem goes beyond a single officer. According to the research, other French soldiers have also shared sensitive information on Strava.
Some public profiles published photos from the deck of ships, showed military installations or allowed ship movements to be followed through their sporting activities.
This facilitates something very delicate: track military movements without the need for traditional espionage. That’s called making things easy on the contrary.
The precedent: StravaLeaks
It’s not the first time it happens. In 2024, An investigation known as StravaLeaks has already uncovered serious security flaws.
Movements of the French president’s bodyguards, agents linked to the US president’s security and members of the Russian president’s protection were identified.
The pattern was the same: use of sports apps with public profiles that left a clear digital trail. Even in January 2025, Members of French nuclear submarines revealed patrol data through these platforms. At that time, the Navy acknowledged negligence, although it reduced its operational impact.
The response of the French Army
After this new case, the General Staff has made it clear that publishing this type of information “does not comply with current regulations.”
Furthermore, remember that the so-called ‘digital hygiene’ is mandatory before any deployment. That is, the military receives specific training to avoid these types of errors.
The real risk: open data in a war environment
These types of incidents show an important change in military security. There is no longer a need to intercept communications or infiltrate agents.
Now, in many cases, It is enough to analyze public data, cross-reference information and observe patterns on open platforms. The threat is no longer just technological or military: it is also digital and everyday.
France is already working on its next aircraft carrier, he Free Francewhich will replace the Charles de Gaulle in 2038. It will be more modern, with drone capability and greater operational power. But, as disruptive as the new thing is, the problem is not with the ships. It is in the use that is made of daily technology.
