Bodyguards of Swedish personalities can be tracked on the Strava app
For years, police officers responsible for the close protection of the prime minister, the king, and other prominent Swedish figures have been leaking their confidential locations through Strava, a fitness app. The case is “truly embarrassing,” according to the Stockholm press.
The case was revealed by Dagens Nyheter . In an investigation published on Tuesday, July 8 , and supplemented the following day , the newspaper recounted how bodyguards had “endangered the safety” of Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, King Carl XVI Gustaf, and other Swedish figures for “several years.”
While on duty, seven police officers responsible for the close protection of these leaders failed to disable the location settings of an application installed on their cell phones. Very popular among runners, Strava allows anyone to view the performances and routes of its users. This did not spare the bodyguards, particularly when they accompanied celebrities on their runs and other trips.
"In the worst case scenario, this information could have been used to prepare an attack" against the Conservative Prime Minister – himself a confirmed jogger – or other personalities, the same newspaper points out.
This leak of confidential data “should never have happened,” says a columnist for Aftonbladet , the national daily newspaper close to the Social Democratic opposition. “Few people in Sweden understand what security is, if not it’s
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