Strava’s Global Heatmap Reveals Secret Bases | Newsworthy

Strava releases sensitive data by mistake? 

This headline came across my screen today and I figured it was interesting enough to share. A guy named Nathan Ruser, per The Sydney Morning Herald (SMH), tweeted out his concern to the world over the past week about the data points on Strava’s Heatmap, released back in November 2017. His tweet quickly gained traction and multiple news agencies have picked up on it since. The SMH pointed out that Nathan is studying international security and the Middle East. While I think Nathan is a smart kid, he is not smart enough to keep his mouth shut and alert the authorities before telling the world wide web (or maybe he did). If he would have kept quiet, it could have given the authorities and Strava enough time to remove those “security concerns” (if they really are concerns) before anymore people took notice. Just my thoughts..

However, I was able to quickly zoom in on this US military base near Lashkargah, Afghanistan, which I used for my featured image. Which isn’t that secret as you can Google the base yourself. The real concerns are the detailed maps that are created by outlining the roads/pathways within the base of users’ activities. Oops..

Another place that stood out was Pyongyang, North Korea. While I haven’t confirmed it myself, but it could be related to their Pyongyang Marathon. Click the image to zoom in on Pyongyang or just to access the heatmap.

Pyongyang Strava Heatmap

Other New Sources:

 

A real security concern or a great PR stunt?
-thebidon

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