A rather interesting report has surfaced online today detailing how Nokia was once caught between a rock and a hard place some six years ago. The iconic Finnish manufacturer was once one of the most successful mobile phone vendors in the world and six years ago it was a major player in the market. Apparently the company was blackmailed into paying millions of euros as criminals threatened to release the encryption key for a core part of Nokia’s Symbian platform.
Finnish TV station MTV first aired the report, revealing that this took place six years ago. It is not known how the blackmailers had got their hands on the encryption key but they threatened to make it public if Nokia didn’t pay them.
If the code had been released publicly it would have allowed anyone to write additional code for Symbian, even malware, which could have ended up on millions of devices around the world. To ensure that this didn’t happen Nokia contacted the police and then agreed to deliver an undisclosed amount in the millions to a parking lot in Tampere, central Finland. The cash was picked up and the police lost track of the suspects.
Finnish Police confirmed to Reuters the case of Nokia being allegedly blackmailed was still open and that they are still investigating.
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