Sweden\u2019s national security service said it was investigating reports that data shared by bodyguards on a fitness app had exposed the private locations of some of the country\u2019s most powerful figures.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Swedish Security Police take the information very seriously,\u201d a spokesperson for S\u00e4kerhetspolisen (S\u00c4PO) wrote in a statement shared Thursday. \u201cThis is a matter of data that could be used to gather information about the activities of our Service.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are now in the process of investigating what effect this might have had,\u201d the spokesperson said. <\/p>\n
It comes after the Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter reported earlier this week<\/a> that seven members of the security service were sharing details of their running and cycling routes on the fitness app Strava, inadvertently revealing the locations of the king and queen\u2019s personal vacations. <\/p>\n That included trips to a private island in the Seychelles, the mountain village of Storlien in northern Sweden and, most recently, to a luxury villa on the French Riviera in June.<\/p>\n Earlier reports<\/a> from the newspaper also found that the guards\u2019 workout data on the fitness app had revealed the private details of Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson<\/a> on at least 35 occasions, including his running routes, trips abroad and private address.<\/p>\n Other information uploaded to Strava was also linked to former Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson <\/a>and the leader of the Sweden Democrats party, Jimmie \u00c5kesson.<\/p>\n \u201cDignitaries that our Service is responsible for protecting are subject to several layers of protection, where their close protection by bodyguards is one layer,\u201d the S\u00c4PO spokesperson said in their statement, adding that the security agency was aware of the risks presented by the leaked information.<\/p>\n \u201cOur Service is now taking the necessary steps to ensure that our procedures are followed closely, so that this does not happen again,\u201d the statement said. <\/p>\n The Swedish Royal Court declined to comment on the reports, citing official policy on security-related matters. <\/p>\n This is not the first time that publicly available data on Strava has breached official security protocols.<\/p>\n In 2017, a global heat map published by the app inadvertently revealed the location of U.S. military bases<\/a> in Syria, Afghanistan and the United Kingdom. In 2022, the app\u2019s features enabled the identification and tracking of security personnel working at military bases in Israel<\/a>. <\/p>\n