Private data: Polar app makes it easy to identify and geo-locate users
Sports
activities of individuals with sensitive professions may, according to a
survey published last weekend, betray their personal data through the
application of the brand Polar.
Among the leaders in the market for connected objects dedicated to athletes, Polar is now in the spotlight for all other reasons. The Finnish firm has been investigated by the collective of journalists Bellingcat and De Correspondent, who note the weaknesses in the confidentiality of the data of his department. In question, its Flow function that allows athletes to record all of their activities ... but also geolocate them.
Spring of this survey that users tend to register their real name on the application, which can be easily associated with their address, from which they activate most of the GPS tracking of their watch. Bellingcat further notes that Flow provides access to the full user history, allowing anyone to determine their habits. The site indicates that it has been able to isolate the work, residence or vacations of nearly 6,500 people, including fighter pilots fighting against the Islamic State and persons working in intelligence services. The media also notes that changing the privacy settings and running the workouts in private only affects new sports sessions, leaving the previous ones visible to everyone.
De Correspondent, based in the Netherlands, says he alerted the Dutch Ministry of Defense a fortnight ago. This explains Polar's reaction even before the publication of the survey. "We
recently learned that geolocation data shared by customers through
Flow's Explore feature could provide information about potentially
sensitive locations," conceded the brand, assuring that it did not
suffer from any "data breaches." private ". The
brand today promises to "analyze the best options that will allow Polar
customers to continue using the Explore feature while taking steps to
remind customers to avoid publicly sharing their GPS data related to
sensitive locations. Polar did not mention any date of return for his service.
Should we be wary of activity tracking applications?
This case comes six months after another incident, then related to the application Strava. The mobile service, compatible with smartphones and with a large majority of connected watches, makes it possible to evaluate the performances of the runners and to do this it surveys the routes covered, compiled in heatmaps. At the beginning of the year, a security student noted that the study of maps in conflict zones made it possible to unearth the locations of military bases in Syria or Iraq. Strava had quickly launched an update of its "heatmaps" in order to guarantee the confidentiality of the data of its users.
Among the leaders in the market for connected objects dedicated to athletes, Polar is now in the spotlight for all other reasons. The Finnish firm has been investigated by the collective of journalists Bellingcat and De Correspondent, who note the weaknesses in the confidentiality of the data of his department. In question, its Flow function that allows athletes to record all of their activities ... but also geolocate them.
Spring of this survey that users tend to register their real name on the application, which can be easily associated with their address, from which they activate most of the GPS tracking of their watch. Bellingcat further notes that Flow provides access to the full user history, allowing anyone to determine their habits. The site indicates that it has been able to isolate the work, residence or vacations of nearly 6,500 people, including fighter pilots fighting against the Islamic State and persons working in intelligence services. The media also notes that changing the privacy settings and running the workouts in private only affects new sports sessions, leaving the previous ones visible to everyone.
Should we be wary of activity tracking applications?
This case comes six months after another incident, then related to the application Strava. The mobile service, compatible with smartphones and with a large majority of connected watches, makes it possible to evaluate the performances of the runners and to do this it surveys the routes covered, compiled in heatmaps. At the beginning of the year, a security student noted that the study of maps in conflict zones made it possible to unearth the locations of military bases in Syria or Iraq. Strava had quickly launched an update of its "heatmaps" in order to guarantee the confidentiality of the data of its users.
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