Finland to investigate Nokia smartphones after data breach

Fingerprint on a Chinese key on a keyboard to denote cyber crime

Finland's data protection regulator is investigating whether Nokia breached national laws after a "software glitch" saw user data being sent to China.

Reuters reported that the country's data protection ombudsman Reijo Aarnio said he would ensure user data had not accidentally made its way over to China and if it had, Nokia device maker HMD Global would be fully investigated.

Last week, Norwegian public broadcaster NRK reported that some Nokia 7 Plus phones had sent data to a Chinese data server, although it hasn't been revealed what kind of information has been transmitted or how many devices were affected by the potential breach.

A customer reportedly contacted NRK saying they had noticed their Nokia 7 Plus has been sending packets of unencrypted data to a server located in China. When further questioned by the news source, HMD wouldn't say who owned the server or how the data was being used.

However, the company said in a statement: "We can confirm that no personally identifiable information has been shared with any third party."

It added there had been "an error in software packaging process in a single batch of one device model".

"Such data was never processed and no person could have been identified based on this data," HMD representatives said.

The affected devices have now all apparently been patched and are no longer beaming information to Chinese servers.

There are concerns that Chinese businesses and potentially, even the government, are collecting data relating to international citizens for unlawful reasons.

Clare Hopping
Freelance writer

Clare is the founder of Blue Cactus Digital, a digital marketing company that helps ethical and sustainability-focused businesses grow their customer base.

Prior to becoming a marketer, Clare was a journalist, working at a range of mobile device-focused outlets including Know Your Mobile before moving into freelance life.

As a freelance writer, she drew on her expertise in mobility to write features and guides for ITPro, as well as regularly writing news stories on a wide range of topics.