Strava: when smartwatches expose French nuclear submarines

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The history of French nuclear deterrence has its roots in the 1960s, with the creation of the Strategic Oceanic Force (FOST). The base on Île Longue, inaugurated in 1970, is now home to four Le Triomphant-class nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines (SNLE), representing an investment of several billion euros. These 138-meter-long behemoths, capable of carrying sixteen M51 nuclear missiles, constitute the spearhead of our strike force.

However, an investigation published in Le Monde, revealed that the Breton military base had its secrets revealed by a rather unexpected means: the smartwatches of its military personnel. More particularly because of Strava, which had already found itself in turmoil at the start of the school year with the Stravaleaks threatening Emmanuel Macron as well as Joe Biden and Donald Trump.

An algorithm that decodes submarine patrols

The submariners' smartwatches record their daily physical activities at the base: runs on the docks, weight training sessions, training exercises. This data is automatically uploaded to their public Strava profiles.

If you're not familiar with Strava, it's an online platform and mobile app that lets you record, analyze, and share your sports activities thanks to a GPS tracking system, while offering a social aspect to compare and motivate yourself with other users. The Facebook of the athlete, in a way.

However, the analysis of these profiles reveals a recurring pattern: periods of intense activity on land alternate with phases of total digital silence lasting exactly 70 days – the standard duration of a patrol at sea.

Even more worrying, the application keeps the complete history of training sessions. By analyzing this data over several months, it becomes possible to establish the precise schedule of rotations of the four submarines. When a Strava profile abruptly stops, it's because its owner has gotten on board. When sports activity suddenly resumes, often with comments about ” the recovery ” after a long stop, it is the signal for the crew to return to land.

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Strava: the enemy of national security?

An extremely worrying leak of course, since by crossing the profiles of several crew members, Strava unintentionally draws a precise temporal map of the movements of the FOST. The app not only reveals absence periods, but also shore training areas, typical shift schedules, and even seasonal variations in rotations.

How one of the most secure bases in our territory was able to find its activities exposed like this ? Smartwatches actually escape security protocols because, unlike smartphones, they are perceived as simple sports accessories.

However, their local storage capacity allows them to accumulate data even when there is no connection. Once back in an area with network access, they automatically synchronize entire blocks of information on Strava, thus creating a detailed digital trace of the crews' activities.

Strava data now allows an informed observer to deduce not only the departure and return periods of the submarines, but also to identify precisely the crew members involved in each rotation. A gaping flaw that the French Navy has acknowledged, but which does not consider that it represents ” a major risk “.

Nevertheless, with such data in hand, a potential adversary could, in theory, plan an attack more intelligently, organize kidnappings or targeted assassinations or sabotage operations. Especially since the main strength of the SSBNs is their ability to conduct operations with complete discretion; it is even the pillar of submarine nuclear deterrence. If an adversary knows the movements of the vehicles in advance, this ability is therefore seriously compromised.

• Smartwatches used by personnel at the ultra-secure Île Longue base upload their data to Strava.
• Analysis of Strava profiles can therefore provide precise patrol schedules for the base's nuclear submarines.
• This information compromises the deterrent force's discretion and exposes crews to obvious security risks.

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