Cablegate analysis of likely espionage of nokia by the united states

In recent years computing has shown an increasing shift towards mobile devices. Smartphones and similar devices such as tablets are becoming more powerful and less expensive every day and as such are becoming more widespread not only in developed, but also in developing countries. Alongside the development of the mobile devices, the internet offers an increasing amount of services for these devices. This evolution of mobile devices from simple telephones to portable computers as well as their increased interconnectivity however also made them more prone to security issues. As such secret services around the world are given more possibilities and opportunities to use these mobile devices for espionage and widespread surveillance. The recent leak of cables sent by US embassies around the world also known as the 'cablegate' gives us an opportunity to get a better understanding of this issue. In the light of these events we tried to measure to which extent US have spied on European companies, especially one of the leading manufacturers of mobile devices around the world, Nokia. We set up a database and preprocessed the embassy messages to allow us to search through the huge amount of data in short time. We then investigated Nokia's fields of business to find possible contact points to special agencies. Additionally we looked for other reasons why special agencies might have a specific interest in Nokia. With this information we analyzed the data. The analysis clarifies two major key points: Firstly it validated the assumption that mobile devices, even civil ones, play an important role in modern warfare. They are used not only by US special agents, but also by guerrilla forces to coordinate military operations. Secondly Nokia is a main competitor to American companies in the fastest growing markets worldwide, such as India and China. This paper intends to present the results and the main conclusion of our analysis.