Blackmailers threatened to publicly release Symbian encryption key that would let malware disguise itself as part of the OS.
Nokia reportedly paid a ransom of ‘millions of Euros’ to blackmailers who threatened to disclose a part of the Symbian OS source code, about six years ago. MTV, a TV station in Finland, reported that the blackmailers warned Nokia that they would publicly reveal the encryption key for Symbian, which would allow the creation of malware that would appear like a part of the core OS.
After Nokia agreed to make the payment, it contacted the Finnish police in order to apprehend the blackmailers. However, once the money was picked up by the blackmailers from a car park in Tampere, a city in Finland, the police lost track of them and the money. The case still remains open with the Finnish police who told Reuters that they were still investigating.
Although it’s still not clear if the blackmailers actually released the encryption key, Nokia has since then given up on Symbian, moved on to Windows Phone as the primary OS for its phones and been acquired by Microsoft.
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