General Onno Eichelsheim, the highest soldier in the Netherlands, has called on all soldiers and civilian employees of Defense to accelerate the preparation for a possible deployment. He calls for soldiers, among other things, to responsible use of apps on private telephone. Last month it became clear that this did not happen at the Havelte barracks.
“The threat is increasing. Freedom in Europe is no longer self -evident, and Europe has to do more itself to remain safe,” Eichelsheim writes in a daily order. With that he points to the war in Ukraine and the threat of Russia. “Russia is testing our alertness, studies our preparedness and estimates our readyness.”
Soldiers are called upon to have their military skills and vaccinations in order and to be fit for work. In addition, soldiers must be trained and trained as quickly as possible. Furthermore, defense personnel are asked to prevent people from following them in places where they are militarily active, such as via apps on private phone telephones.
It used to go wrong in Havelte, among others, Omroep Gelderland discovered. Until recently, 150 soldiers were visible via the Strava SportApp Strava who had sports on the site of the barracks.
Matthijs Koot, expert in the field of digital data protection and privacy warned. It turned out to be easy to combine names of soldiers via Strava with information obtained through a data breach from, for example, a webshop. In that case, enemies would also have access to an e-mail address, telephone number and home address.
With this data, soldiers could be put under pressure with all possible consequences. For themselves, their families, but also for national security, Defense fears.
The daily order was received at the Johannes Post Kazerne. According to a spokesperson, there is no news in it. “In theory we are always alert to safety, that is almost rammed in defense personnel.” He has heard nothing about stricter access controls. “And defense bags always had to be visibly worn.”
After it became known that 150 soldiers at the barracks in Havelte are visible on the Strava SportApp, the spokesperson has the hope that employees were convinced to remove the app from their private telephone. “But it remains a private telephone, we have no influence on that. It remains private. But it is not useful to download such apps. We continue to repeat that message.”