Strava is a popular mobile application with more than 100 million users worldwide, serving the needs of tracking activities such as running, cycling or other sports , along with the indicators measured during the activity. But in addition to the above utility, the application is causing concerns about privacy issues for a part of users.
Strava is quite popular among the running community in Vietnam.
Researchers at Raleigh University in North Carolina (USA) have tested and evaluated the security level of the Strava application as well as the ability of someone to detect the user's residential address through activities recorded on the application. They discovered that in certain cases, strangers can still trace the home address of Strava users, even though the application hides sensitive information to protect the account owner.
Specifically, when using Strava, users grant the application permission to track their location via GPS. Strava members can use heatmaps to identify areas with a large number of runners to assess the safety and popularity of the route. Data from heatmaps does not reveal user information, but many account holders have a habit of using their real names and photos, and publicly sharing their running achievements and areas of frequent activity with the community.
However, scientists have discovered a way to track and identify addresses by combining public heatmap data from Strava with personal information. They analyzed the heatmap data and used OpenStreetMaps to determine the start/end points of the journey near specific residential areas, from which they obtained home addresses. Even so, the accuracy rate was about 37.5%.
Additionally, if a user lives in a popular area, the chances of their address being discovered are lower than in less populated areas.
To protect privacy and prevent start/finish locations from appearing on Strava, experts recommend that users only turn on location when they are away from home, run on routes with high traffic of Strava users, and do not share heatmap data. Personal information on the app should only be set to private.
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