Crypto AG

Crypto AG
IndustryCryptography
PredecessorCryptograph
Founded1952
FounderBoris Hagelin
Defunct2018
Headquarters
Steinhausen, Zug
,
Switzerland
OwnerCentral Intelligence Agency (1970–2018)
Federal Intelligence Service (1970–1993)

Crypto AG was a Swiss company specialising in communications and information security founded by Boris Hagelin in 1952. The company was secretly purchased for US $5.75 million and jointly owned by the American Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and West German Federal Intelligence Service (BND) from 1970 until about 1993, with the CIA continuing as sole owner until about 2018.[1][2] The mission of breaking encrypted communication using a secretly owned company was known as "Operation Rubikon". With headquarters in Steinhausen, the company was a long-established manufacturer of encryption machines and a wide variety of cipher devices.[2]

The company had about 230 employees, had offices in Abidjan, Abu Dhabi, Buenos Aires, Kuala Lumpur, Muscat, Selsdon and Steinhausen, and did business throughout the world.[3] The owners of Crypto AG were unknown, supposedly even to the managers of the firm, and they held their ownership through bearer shares.[4]

The company has been criticised for selling backdoored products to benefit the American, British and German national signals intelligence agencies, the National Security Agency (NSA), the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), and the BND, respectively.[5][6][7] Crypto AG sold equipment to more than 120 countries, including India, Pakistan, Iran, and multiple Latin American nations. Although neither the Soviet Union nor People's Republic of China were customers of Crypto AG, several of their friendly countries had the company's equipment.[1][8][9] On 11 February 2020, The Washington Post, ZDF and SRF revealed that Crypto AG was secretly owned by the CIA in a highly classified partnership with West German intelligence, and the spy agencies could easily break the codes used to send encrypted messages. The operation was known first by the code name "Thesaurus" and later the BND called it "Rubicon" (German: Rubikon) and the CIA called it "Minerva".[1][9] According to a Swiss parliamentary investigation, "Swiss intelligence service were aware of and benefited from the Zug-based firm Crypto AG’s involvement in the US-led spying".[10]

  1. ^ a b c Miller, Greg (11 February 2020). "The intelligence coup of the century". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 11 February 2020. Retrieved 11 February 2020.
  2. ^ a b Paul, Jon D. (31 August 2021). "The Scandalous History of the Last Rotor Cipher Machine". IEEE. Retrieved 15 September 2021.
  3. ^ "Headquarters and regional offices worldwide". Crypto AG. Archived from the original on 16 May 2011. Retrieved 6 January 2008.
  4. ^ Müller, Leo (18 September 2013). "Spionage: Unheimlich kooperativ". Bilanz (in Swiss High German). Archived from the original on 22 August 2016. Retrieved 30 March 2017.
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference LT2015 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference BBC-2015-07-28 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ "Swiss machines 'used to spy on governments for decades'". BBC News. 11 February 2020. Retrieved 13 February 2020.
  8. ^ "The CIA's 'Minerva' Secret | National Security Archive". nsarchive.gwu.edu. Retrieved 23 April 2023.
  9. ^ a b Шаталин, Вадим (Shatalin, Vadim) (12 February 2020). "ЦРУ и БНД десятилетиями прослушивали более 100 стран: В ходе операции "Рубикон" ЦРУ и БНД получали доступ к секретной зашифрованной переписке в 120 странах. Расследование ZDF, Washington Post и SRF" [The CIA and BND have been wiretapping more than 100 countries for decades: During Operation Rubicon, the CIA and BND gained access to secret encrypted communications in 120 countries. Investigation by ZDF, Washington Post and SRF.]. Deutsche Welle (in Russian). Retrieved 11 October 2023.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) Alternate archive as ЦРУ и БНД полвека прослушивали дипканалы 120 стран: Через оборудование подконтрольной спецлужбам швейцарской Crypto AG в 1980-х шло до 40% всей секретной дипломатической переписки в мире. Оригинал этого материала "Русская редакция Deutsche Welle": Спецслужбы США и Германии десятилетиями прослушивали более чем сто стран (For half a century, the CIA and the BND have been tapping the diplomatic channels of 120 countries: In the 1980s, up to 40% of all secret diplomatic correspondence in the world went through the equipment of the Swiss Crypto AG, controlled by special services. Original of this material "Russian edition of Deutsche Welle": The intelligence services of the United States and Germany have been listening to more than a hundred countries for decades)
  10. ^ "Swiss intelligence benefited from CIA-Crypto spying affair". 10 November 2020. Archived from the original on 11 November 2020.