Spoofing Mimi Anderson's Run Across America On Strava

Oh yeah, please share to LRC so I can get feedback on whether I need to improve on something in the spoofings. I only had a few hours here and there to write the RunDevil 666 spoofing tool and this is the first go at it so there will likely be future versions. The spoofings will only improve with ideas I have in mind.

^Typo in the above. I meant to say please share to the Ultra Running Community Facebook thread on Mimi Anderson's run across America. I tried joining once but I got banned from there.

Keep up the good work. I am afraid she might get away with this fraud run. She looks too frail. And there are never pics or videos of her running.

Open source the code please for scrutiny.

Nice work. What do you start with? Did you use one of Mimi's routes as input? If so then it's probably less impressive, if not then could you please prove the quality of your tool by creating a run that Mimi hasn't done? On or close to her planned route would be good.

Break the records yourself, and add photos along the way.

Well done!

you really need to get a life, maybe go for a run or something, instead of obsessing over someone else

Climate change is real wrote:

Open source the code please for scrutiny.

I'm on the fence about doing that since releasing it would enable anyone to make very convincing spoofs in just seconds without any skill.

Strava cheat wrote:

Nice work. What do you start with? Did you use one of Mimi's routes as input? If so then it's probably less impressive, if not then could you please prove the quality of your tool by creating a run that Mimi hasn't done? On or close to her planned route would be good.

For these first 3 spoofs I started off with the GPS track from Mimi's Strava as a starting point but the tool was built in mind to be able to use any GPS track as a starting point. I just need to finish a sampling function that roughly samples any GPS track at a desired rate of speed.

The heart rate and cadence data were completely generated by algorithm and is not based any any heart rate or cadence data from Mimi's Strava.

I will spoof upcoming runs when I'm done the sampling function.

@scam wrote:

you really need to get a life, maybe go for a run or something, instead of obsessing over someone else

Maybe I could ring up Rob Young for a run and see if he would be interested in using my spoofing tool.

Climate change is real wrote:

Open source the code please for scrutiny.

So that the URC team can improve Mimi's "data"? Or to attack Sandy Vi's Strava. Or both?

@scam wrote:

you really need to get a life, maybe go for a run or something, instead of obsessing over someone else

URC has been caught faking Mimi's Strava. Thank you for the confirmation.

Scam_Watcheroo wrote:

Climate change is real wrote:

Open source the code please for scrutiny.

I'm on the fence about doing that since releasing it would enable anyone to make very convincing spoofs in just seconds without any skill.

They will use the process to discredit Sandy. Sandy does not have the unusual Strava data Mimi has. Pete did not experience the same fuzzy data. Only Mimi has the problems.

@URC wrote:

@scam wrote:

you really need to get a life, maybe go for a run or something, instead of obsessing over someone else

URC has been caught faking Mimi's Strava. Thank you for the confirmation.

Really? Where did that happen?

I 100% agree that Strava data can be faked, including cadence, HR, and anything else. It's just self-reported data, after all. Maybe it takes someone with decent programming skills to understand the data format, and calculate plausible data given the route and elevation profile, but it's still quite doable.

This has nothing to do with Strava specifically - data from Map My Run or Garmin Connect is just as susceptible to fakery, or data from other devices like Suunto.

However, I don't think the examples you've provided here are a good demonstration of the fakeability of run data. If I understand correctly, you've built a tool that takes an existing legitimate run, and uses it to create a new fake run at a different speed. Such a tool would not be very useful for someone trying to fake a cross-country stage run, because the necessary legitimate runs would not exist. So I don't think these examples will convince anyone who wasn't already convinced.

To be a persuasive demo, I think you need to build a tool that can manufacture fake runs out of thin air. Somewhere where you can use a program like Google Earth to draw any route you wish, and then the tool will generate a plausible-looking Strava activity for that route. I can appreciate that this would be harder to build than what you've done so far, but IMHO this would be the ultimate demonstration of why Strava and similar run loggers should not be considered "proof" of anything, but merely "evidence" that must be corroborated with other evidence like live tracking, photos, video, eyewitnesses, etc.

It's Just Data wrote:

To be a persuasive demo, I think you need to build a tool that can manufacture fake runs out of thin air..

The route was previous driven by Team Mimi. The basics have been. The daily results could be prepared in advance.

Actually, the spoofing tool is built to be able to create a spoof from any given GPS track it is given. It doesn't even have to even be a run. It can take in the GPX route files by plotting a route in Strava. I just wasn't totally done the resampling function in the tool so it was just easier at this point to use a GPS track that already had 1 second data. The tool also does not use any external heart rate or cadence data since Mimi is actually missing heart rate from many of her runs.

I will be done the resampling function soon and will post new spoofs with it for routes I plot ahead of where Mimi is. It's not much different from what it does now.

Scam_Watcheroo wrote:

I will be done the resampling function soon and will post new spoofs with it for routes I plot ahead of where Mimi is. It's not much different from what it does now.

And you can show that the date will be in the future.