World
January 14, 2025 10:30
france - A recent leak of information from France's most heavily guarded and secretive military base has caused a major scandal. The leak, known as StravaLeaks, has put military personnel at risk of severe penalties.
In France, the most secret base of the French Navy has been exposed to an unprecedented leak of information, according to Le Monde newspaper. The details of the military area Long Island, which houses four submarines equipped with nuclear warheads, were leaked through the exercise app Strava, which is free to use on smartphones.
The scandal, named StravaLeaks, revealed classified information such as the patrol routes, changeover times, and the trajectory of the island's ballistic missile submarines (SNLE) inadvertently shared by the submarine crew through the app.
Aside from the information shared by the submariners, the Strava app also shows the movement routes of the security details of the United States and Russian presidents.
Long Island, protected by land, sea, and unmanned aerial vehicles, has over 2000 employees and protects 16 nuclear warhead missiles, each capable of the power of a thousand Hiroshima atom bombs.
The leak was initially noticed in 2018 when a French newspaper, Le Telegramme, reported a minor leakage related to French nuclear submarines. The leak continued for 7 years after 2018, and the identity of the military personnel responsible for the leak was revealed.
Authorities warned that military personnel who unintentionally leaked information through the Strava app could face severe penalties. They stated that smartwatches belonging to personnel who wanted to record their training performances might have bypassed security checks despite instructions.
Officials emphasized that most of the violations were not committed by submariners but by military personnel in charge of monitoring the facilities. They clarified that the data shared was not in real time, and the smartwatches transmitted all information in one go when connected to the internet.
The French Navy assured Le Monde newspaper that the negligence of some personnel did not pose a threat to the operational activities of the base.