- By Vaidika Thapa
- Fri, 20 Mar 2026 02:24 PM (IST)
- Source:JND
Amid ongoing conflict in the Middle East, involving Israel, the United States and Iran, a surprising security lapse by a French sailor has come to light. His simple morning run ended up revealing sensitive information about the location of a major warship in the Mediterranean. The incident reportedly occured two weeks after US and Israeli airstrikes on Iran and shortly after France announced the carrier's deployment on March 3.
On March 13, when a French sailor went for his regular morning run on the deck of the aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle, he used a smartwatch connected to a fitness app to track his run. He covered about seven kilometres in 35 minutes. However, he did not realise that his data was being shared publicly online in real time. This happened as his fitness app profile was set to “public.”
How His Workout, Fitness App Revealed Location?
The data that was uploaded accidentally showed the exact location of the aircraft carrier as it moved through the Mediterranean Sea. According to a report by French publication Le Monde, the ship was sailing near Cyprus and close to the Turkish coast at the time and his watch unintentionally exposed the position. However, nothing major happened as the presence of Charles de Gaulle in the region was already known.
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Charles de Gaulle's Deployment
France had deployed it after tensions escalated in the Middle East. French President Emmanuel Macron had even announced its deployment earlier and visited the ship. While the carrier’s deployment was not secret, sharing of its real-time location was highly sensitive information at times of crisis. The incident raises concern over the risks of using devices and apps in military environments. In the past, similar fitness tracking data was used to note movements of world leaders’ security teams and military patrolling units.