HMD Global Oy is being implemented for sending Nokia Mobile user data to Chinese servers

HMD Global Oy, which oversaw the manufacture of Nokia smartphones, is being investigated by the Finnish Data Protection Authority, after some of its phones send data to servers in China . The investigation comes after NRK claimed to have evidence that Nokia phones sent sensitive data to China on the advice of the owner of the device.

Henrik Austad, the manager, said he was monitoring the data traffic on his Nokia 7 Plus phone and discovered that he was sending unencrypted information to a Chinese server. The SIM card number includes the serial number and the location of the phone. The results of the audio radio revealed that the server belonged to "Vnet.cn" and was managed by China Telecom, a public company owned by China Telecom.

Reijo Aarnio, senior official of the Finnish data protection body, said that the investigation would now determine whether there had been intentional violation and sharing of personal information, as well as whether a legal justification could be provided. In-depth research has shown that this may have been the case with the Chinese version of the Nokia 7 Plus and not the global version.

This follows from the statement submitted by HMD Global Oy to the Finnish company Helsingin Sanomat. The company said the data collection was due to an error in the source code where the "activation package" had been mistakenly included in the operating system of some phones. He added that only one Nokia 7 Plus phone uses this package. He also mentioned that the problem had been addressed in the update released by the company last January and that most customers had it installed.