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AFP, 31 October 2013
Finland's
Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja addresses the 68th United Nations General
Assembly at UN headquarters in New York, September 27, 2013 (Pool/AFP/File,
Eduardo Munoz)
|
Helsinki —
Finland said Thursday its foreign ministry had been the target of
"massive" digital spying detected in the beginning of the year, but
its most sensitive information was not affected.
Foreign
Minister Erkki Tuomioja said police had launched a probe into the spying which
he described as "very sophisticated."
The MTV3
television station which first broke the story reported that the Russian and
Chinese secret services were suspected by Helsinki of being behind the digital
attacks.
"It is
very embarrassing," Tuomioja told journalists of the spying which
authorities believe had been going on for a long time, however he said the most
sensitive information, particularly relating to international relations, had
not been uncovered.
Finland has
informed other European Union nations of the breach in security.
Experts
were not surprised that the spying had taken place.
"In
Finland authorities have been too innocent. In France for example the use of
Blackberry smartphones has been banned for a long time" among high-ranking
officials, independent digital expert Petteri Jarvinen told AFP.
"The
fact that Finland didn't detect the acts of espionage itself which have lasted
for years is very embarrassing," he said, referring to the fact that clues
to the spying had come from abroad.
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