Chinese troops warned fitness apps pose security threat
Base rules software that tracks soldiers’ locations and movement may reveal military secrets, according to news website report
Soldiers at a military base in China’s coastal province Fujian have been warned over the risks of leaking military secrets by using fitness tracking apps and posting the results of their workouts on social media.
An instructor at the base spotted a soldier posting his training record of the day on WeChat using a fitness tracking app that pinpoints the user’s location and distances covered, the news website Thepaper.cn reported.
The instructor asked the soldier to immediately delete the information as it clearly indicated where the military base was and its surrounding buildings.
About 43 per cent of soldiers on the base have used motion tracking apps, according to its security department, the report said.
The base, the location of which was not given in the report, has banned the use of GPS systems on mobile phone apps and on wearable electronic devices, according to the article.