The boldest operation in history! U.S. CIA exposed to use encryption devices to monitor more than 120 countries
Cover News 2020-02-15 20:38 Follow 21
Cover News Reporter
According to a joint investigation by the US "Washington Post" and the German Public Broadcasting Corporation, from the 1970s, the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency and the German Federal Intelligence Agency secretly acquired Crypto AG, a Swiss encryption company, using its equipment to monitor more than 120 worldwide Countries.
It is reported that the company's customers include Iran, India, Pakistan, Libya, South Korea and even the Vatican, but not China and Russia. An internal report from the CIA called the plan a "century intelligence coup."
Intelligence coup
Crypto AG, headquartered in Switzerland, signed a contract with the U.S. Army for the first time during World War II to manufacture coding machines for it. For decades, this cash-rich company became a leader in the crypto equipment industry. From mechanical gears, electronic circuits, silicon-based chips to software, Crypto AG has been leading the technology trend.
In the 21st century, the Swiss company made millions of dollars by selling equipment to more than 120 countries. Its customers include Iran, Latin American military organizations, India, Pakistan, and even the Vatican.
Although Crypto was liquidated in 2018, the company's logo can still be seen at its long-term headquarters near Zug, Switzerland.
But no client knows that Crypto AG is secretly owned by the CIA and has a highly confidential relationship with the West German intelligence service. Then, US and West German intelligence personnel began eavesdropping.
It is reported that in the 1970s, the United States Central Intelligence Agency and the National Security Agency responsible for password deciphering joined with the German Federal Intelligence Agency to control the company's recruitment decisions, design technology, disrupt algorithms, and guide sales goals. Virtue forgery is embedded in the device in advance. When used in other countries, virtue can crack the code of encrypted files in each country.
The Washington Post described this as "one of the boldest operations" in CIA history, and the United States used it to hold a large amount of secret information. In the 1980s, about 40% of foreign secret communications handled by the US intelligence service were from Crypto AG equipment. For example, communications between various Iranian departments during the Iranian hostage crisis from 1979 to 1981.
In 1986, the U.S. military was bombed in Germany's Berlin Ballroom. At first, it was unknown who did it, but Libyan officials congratulated each other with Crypto AG's encryption machine, so that the United States and Germany quickly knew who was behind the scenes. Ten days later, Reagan ordered a retaliatory blow against Libya.
Virtue break up
Secret historical documents inside the CIA show that the United States and Germany have had frictions over the money and moral bottom line of the secret project. The German Federal Intelligence Agency was shocked by the United States' "want to monitor its closest allies," because the United States has targeted NATO allies such as Italy, Greece, Turkey, and Spain.
According to the German Public Broadcasting Corporation, a salesman of the company was arrested in Iran for several months in 1992, and the German Federal Intelligence Agency spent $ 1 million to release him. This incident also became one of the reasons why Germany decided not to participate in the operation.
Gradually, the German intelligence service considered the plan too risky. The German Federal Intelligence Agency then withdrew from the operation in 1993, selling its stake in Crypto AG to the CIA.
After Germany withdrew, the CIA continued to control Crypto AG, and its products are still used in many countries. It wasn't until 2018 that Crypto AG was finally dissolved and acquired by two different security companies.