oldschool56

One fault in your theory. Our enemies are not a government of our people, by our people, and most definitely not for our people.

bobwysiwyg

Well, I would be surprised if the bad guys don't have sympathizers on every foreign combat base we have. We hire lots of locals I'm guessing and they keep their eyes open. They can provide plenty of detail.

One of our barber's was found dead outside the wire following TET in '68, probably cut my hair a time or two.

_ForceD_

I'm retired military, worked in a high-security technical position my entire career. I concur that the military does in fact need to have secretive networks, and have secure non-public resources. In those areas, and among those resources, cell phones are not even allowed there. Even if they're turned off. That's (part of) how the sensitivity is protected. But this STRAVA news seems to be late to the game. How long have we had maps available on our cell phones? Those map/traffic apps that show how traffic is flowing on the roads uses a method similar to the STRAVA heat maps...it's tracking cell phone signals. The cell network measures where, and how fast the cell phones in cars are moving along the roads. Your phone is contributing to that and you don't even realize it. And, it's been done for years in department stores too...to tell which isle you're on, etc. As long as the phone is turned on and emitting a signal, it can be tracked (unless it's in airplane mode I guess). It doesn't need to have STRAVA, Google Maps, or any other app running. So until the DoD completely bans cell phones from use on military installations...which we know isn't going to happen...someone will be able to track them and creat a map using their movement.

Dan

Shimagnolo

I've heard Team Taliban is training hard to make it into the TdF this year.

avole

You mean - the French ?

tyrion

The problem is Strava provides more info than just heatmaps if the user doesn't have it set up securely. I guarantee the DOD will be putting out guidelines to address this soon.

_ForceD_

For example? I mean yeah...the user's calorie expenditure, from/to and distance traveled. What does Strava do, that say Google Maps, or other cell phone apps do or don't do, that might provide military intelligence?

This kind of reminds me of the "Pizza Intel" that was talked about in 1990 during the Gulf War.

Dan

Lazyass

You do realize Strava is used for running and walking as well

TimothyH

Thank you for this.

Like I said, it is non-news put out by a couple of guys trying to make a name for themselves via twitter.

At least two of them claim to be studying or have graduated with degrees in intelligence analysis and so they know all this quite well.

The media is happy to run with it.


-Tim-

tyrion

Names, pictures, workout habits, network connections ("Following"). Plus it's super easy, no tech savvy needed, all one needs is a cellphone to get the info.

edit: people list their hometowns. Plus, if you can identify a concentration of super athletes in a remote area, that would be a red flag ("special ops").

_ForceD_

...or just log onto Facebook for that info.

Dan

tyrion

That there are many potential security weaknesses isn't a reason to ignore this one.

jitteringjr

One thing you can tell from the strava heat map: There is not a single straight road in all of England. Looks more like a bowl full of macaroni than a road system when you zoom in there.

_ForceD_

Of course not. (One of) The point I'm trying to make is that this threat (or similar threats such as the use of Google Maps...which has been around longer than Strava)...or just the general use of cell phones on military installations...has probably been evaluated by the DoD. The writers of this article might have simply come to the realization more recently and are announcing it as a threat...which the DoD may, or may not have already evaluated and dismissed as a non-threat. Or, a threat they can control (if needed).

Dan

Marcus_Ti

Well...usually the Pentagon doesn't do reviews or issue orders based on "non-news"



https://www.washingtonpost.com/world...67e_story.html

tyrion

Seems to me the DOD was blindsided by this Strava news.

veganbikes

The whole idea is we shouldn't need to have enemies, it is something that the governments of the world choose for their citizens. There is no need for hate just kick ass bicycles! If you have a squabble settle it on the track or a MTB trail or a road ride of some sort.

canklecat

rseeker

I wonder if DoD will go to Strava with a request to retroactively privatize some data. I remember when this happened with Google Maps and satellite views of certain sensitive areas like the White House.

_ForceD_

They're listening!

canklecat

The problem isn't military personnel exercising. All militaries do that, or should.

The problem is making it too easy to identify patterns in individuals and groups. For decades military and civilian personnel assigned overseas have been advised to avoid predictable routines in order to make it a little more difficult for kidnappers and terrorists.

Without these handy surveillance devices we voluntarily carry around, prospective enemies had to risk exposing themselves in order to track the movements of their targets. No need to make it easier for them.

This may be one advantage to Cyclemeter, which stores data only on the users mobile device by default. The user must choose to share activities to Strava, social media, or even to private cloud storage, etc.

I-Like-To-Bike

What's so special about the target value of troops doing PT? If body count is desired by an evil doer with the means/weapon to deliver explosives on post, the on post movie theater, PX, school buildings, gym, health clinic/hospital, officers/EM club, etc. are well marked static targets filled full of vulnerable people during known hours.

Lazyass

35 troops in a formation are a better target than 35 people milling around the PX. Unless the people in the PX are all one arms length from each other. And in any case, I was just giving an example. It's not something really worthy of an internet debate.

CliffordK

Uhh... Oh...

My driveway has turned HOT on that heat map, and it's not supposed to be hot

I have to wonder why the military even allows Strava on their sites. No policy about private phones and applications?

Of course, they would also run the risk of creating dead spots where activity is shown all around, but not within their bases, not that the actual location of the bases shouldn't already be known

tyrion

Strava doesn't need phones. A lightweight wrist device could record the info and upload it via desktop computer. While this might be an unusual use case, it could happen when security is only focused on phones and it needs to be addressed.