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> Strava was giving away the location of military bases I'm not sure how to evaluate the risk here. I'm sure the location of these bases are already known by

by 21 9y ago

> Strava was giving away the location of military bases I'm not sure how to evaluate the risk here. I'm sure the location of these bases are already known by other governments through various other means. But maybe they can gather some insight into the level of activity at a base, particularly if they monitor strava data over time. OTOH, this info might be interesting to low-level adversaries (terrorists, ...) to find "weaker bases" which might be easier to attack. Anybody informed can comment on the actual risks?

TallGuyShort 9y ago
I don't think the danger is in the presence or even size of the base, because as you say other governments are probably already aware of most of them, and you can get a sense of the activity level through simple direct surveillance anyway. The big threat I see here is the names. Want to infiltrate a base? Get the name of someone who has access to the areas you want, find them on Facebook, get pictures of their family and children, learn about their habits, and <creativity>use that information</creativity> and now you've infiltrated the base.
- dogma1138 9y ago
  You’ll be surprised by how many bases are unknown, or that their current status is unknown as the activity level changes all the time and most armies have “temporary” and permanent bases and unless were talking about FOBs in a war zone the temporary part refers more to when and how well they are manned rather than the temporary nature of the base infrastructure. Units shift bases all the time for various reason from simple rotation to specific operational needs. This is a huge leak since it provides you a source for both collaborating intelligence you already have and gaining new intelligence. Names of individual people might not be nearly as important especially for other nation states but through this data not only that the location is revealed but also the level of activity and through the personal information what is more valuable as far as intelligence goes who is deployed and here we aren’t talking about individuals but rather units. This is huge, the level of activity in the base increases? Likely an influx of personnel which means that you’ve shifted your operational envelope to this area. 2 new support units and a SAR airwing we’re deployed to a base? Looks like some special operation is cooking. Looks like a lot of army nerds are being deployed to this base might be setting up a SIGINT operation.... Heck the activity level alone is invaluable since it provide you with a signal which allows you to direct other sources of intelligence collection to a base that might otherwise would not have been noticed. I can tell you that during specific operations when we would work out of hours or there would’ve be an increase in personnel an order would go out that would prohibit people from parking their car overnight and other controls would be set in place so no unusual activity that can be easily remotely picked up would be noticed. On a non state actor level this as things like on the level of AQAP for example then the routines that can be gathered from the activity are more important, you know when people get up when they run and hitting a large group of soldiers on their morning run might be a juicy target.
gaius 9y ago
Attempted kidnapping of a serviceman out for a run in 2016 (not Strava related): http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/07/21/raf-personnel-on-alert-after-knifepoint-kidnap-attempt-near-base/ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/07/21/raf-personnel-on-... Fortunately as a member of the elite RAF Regiment he was able to escape. That’s what they learn on the Five Miles Of Death.

by 21 9y ago

TallGuyShort 9y ago

I don't think the danger is in the presence or even size of the base, because as you say other governments are probably already aware of most of them, and you can get a sense of the activity level through simple direct surveillance anyway. The big threat I see here is the names. Want to infiltrate a base? Get the name of someone who has access to the areas you want, find them on Facebook, get pictures of their family and children, learn about their habits, and <creativity>use that information</creativity> and now you've infiltrated the base.

dogma1138 9y ago
You’ll be surprised by how many bases are unknown, or that their current status is unknown as the activity level changes all the time and most armies have “temporary” and permanent bases and unless were talking about FOBs in a war zone the temporary part refers more to when and how well they are manned rather than the temporary nature of the base infrastructure. Units shift bases all the time for various reason from simple rotation to specific operational needs. This is a huge leak since it provides you a source for both collaborating intelligence you already have and gaining new intelligence. Names of individual people might not be nearly as important especially for other nation states but through this data not only that the location is revealed but also the level of activity and through the personal information what is more valuable as far as intelligence goes who is deployed and here we aren’t talking about individuals but rather units. This is huge, the level of activity in the base increases? Likely an influx of personnel which means that you’ve shifted your operational envelope to this area. 2 new support units and a SAR airwing we’re deployed to a base? Looks like some special operation is cooking. Looks like a lot of army nerds are being deployed to this base might be setting up a SIGINT operation.... Heck the activity level alone is invaluable since it provide you with a signal which allows you to direct other sources of intelligence collection to a base that might otherwise would not have been noticed. I can tell you that during specific operations when we would work out of hours or there would’ve be an increase in personnel an order would go out that would prohibit people from parking their car overnight and other controls would be set in place so no unusual activity that can be easily remotely picked up would be noticed. On a non state actor level this as things like on the level of AQAP for example then the routines that can be gathered from the activity are more important, you know when people get up when they run and hitting a large group of soldiers on their morning run might be a juicy target.

gaius 9y ago

Attempted kidnapping of a serviceman out for a run in 2016 (not Strava related): http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/07/21/raf-personnel-on-alert-after-knifepoint-kidnap-attempt-near-base/ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/07/21/raf-personnel-on-... Fortunately as a member of the elite RAF Regiment he was able to escape. That’s what they learn on the Five Miles Of Death.