Mobile mast downed in Janakkala sparks investigation by Hämeen Police

Arto Ala-Välkkilä, a cybersecurity expert at the Finnish Cyber Security Center, suspects that the recent downing of a mobile phone mast in Janakkala may have been an act of vandalism or an attempt to disrupt local telecommunications. “In a situation like that in Janakkala, the most likely motive is to create disturbance in local telecommunication services,” he stated.

The mobile mast, which belongs to Elisa, was toppled in the early hours between Saturday and Sunday. According to the Hämeen Police situation center, the guy wires supporting the mast were cut, leading police to investigate the incident as serious property damage.

Ala-Välkkilä noted that the impact of such an incident is generally confined to the regional level. “While the destruction of a single mast is a serious situation, it still has a localized effect on services,” he explained. There are numerous individual stations across Finland, and impacts from isolated acts of sabotage are limited. He emphasized that to cause more extensive damage, disruptions would need to occur on a larger scale in multiple locations, which would require detailed knowledge of network operations that is not publicly available.

Ala-Välkkilä also highlighted that telecommunications infrastructures, such as cables and masts, are protected based on their importance. Regulations dictate the required physical protections, security measures, and access controls for equipment rooms. For critical systems that could cause significant disturbances within telecommunications networks, security standards are stricter.

He explained that efforts are made to prevent long-term and widespread disruptions, and should they occur, responsible parties are expected to quickly identify the situation to initiate remedial actions. He drew parallels to recent fiber optic network sabotage in France, describing such acts as serious threats, even if their impact is localized. In Finland, cutting fiber connections would similarly result in regional effects due to current requirements for alternative routing in case of outages.