At the beginning of November, the security intelligence police Supo declared that the country’s terror threat had increased from "very low" to "low". The last time it was updated was one year ago in 2014.
"The background to this threat assessment is primarily the Syria-Iraq conflict and the persons from Finland who have participated," pointed out Supo chief inspector Portaankorva.
"Supo has assessed that the current asylum seeker situation doesn’t in itself significantly change the security classification. Above all Supo has flagged the return of visiting combatants as a factor and the organised recruitment and financing that is related to terrorist activity," said senior researcher Teemu Sinkkonen of the Finnish Institute of International Affairs FIIA.
Threat levels defined in colours, numbers or verbally
Security officials in some countries indicate changes in alert levels using a numerical scale. Colours may also be used in locations such as airports. British authorities designate terror threats using a scale of five levels defined verbally and ranging from low (attack unlikely) to critical (attack imminent).
Finland has also maintained verbal descriptions for describing national alert levels.
"The threat assessment is described verbally, and is not communicated as being at level two or three."
"However in Finland we have a relatively small official machine and we don’t necessarily need different colours or number codes to tell each official what should be done in certain situations, rather we are able to coordinate our own actions and we then jointly decide on a course of action," Portaankorva said.
Nothing to link Paris to Finland
The last time Finland moved to increase its threat level was five years ago when a suicide bomber struck in the midst of a throng of Christmas shoppers in Stockholm.
Last Friday’s terrorist attacks in Paris have put security officials on alert in Finland as well as in other parts of Europe. At ground zero in Paris, the increase in the alert level will naturally show on the streets in the form of armed patrols.
"So far nothing has emerged to link this case to Finland," Portaankorva said, however.
"Traditionally they (security alert levels) have also risen when there is sufficient suspicion that there is an immediate threat, for example relating to a terror threat or something else. At that time it can be raised without any public information about why it’s being done or when something significant has happened in the world, such as the recent attack in Paris," Sinkkonen added.