Nokia reportedly paid a secret multimillion dollar ransom to Symbian code thief

Back in the late 2000s, Nokia apparently found itself the target of a high-stakes extortion attempt from persons threatening to release code that could allow malware to spread across its Symbian operating system — then the leading smartphone OS. According to MTV Finland (unrelated to the music-focused MTV), Nokia paid several million euros in late 2007 or early 2008 to blackmailers who had obtained a key that would allow any developer to sign their Symbian apps, making their apps appear to have been properly vetted and granting them access to deeper areas of the phone. Both MTV and Reuters confirmed the extortion attempt with Finnish authorities. Nokia did not immediately respond to a request for comment.


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