Swiss investigate report that firm helped CIA break codes

Post Reply New Topic

Zurich REUTERS

Switzerland said today it is probing reports that US CIA and German BND spy service used a Swiss firm's encryption technology to crack other nations secret messages.

The company,called Crypto AG,sold code-making equipment to India,Pakistan, and dozens of other nations,the technology was modified to let the CIA and the BND break codes.

They described a cold war era caper in which American spymasters and counterparts from the former West Germany from 1970 were responsible for nearly all Crypto AG operations,from hiring to firing and sales tactics.

The reports cite a classified CIA history to underpin allegations some of which date back to 1992,when one of Crypto's employees was arrested and held in Iran for nine months.

The events under discussion date back to 1945 and are difficult to reconstruct and interpret in the present day context.

Judge Niklaus Oberholzer is due to report back by the end of june,after which the Swiss cabinet will be briefed.

REUTERS

Interesting, uncovering a piece of cold-war era espionage activities.
If we’re lucky there’ll be an engrossing book on it in a decade or so’s time.
Hope the Iran angle doesn’t inflame current tensions further though.

I would encourage you to read the whole Reuters World article it's very complex and interesting.

Will do so now!

Thanks for sharing the info.

So the Swiss government aren’t convinced that the operation is purely historical...
Think I’ll have to see if I can find and read the Washington Post article it refers too.

Glad you read it.

Sounds a bit too complex for me to grasp at the moment. I have been getting burned out about three or four hours after waking up lately since my sleep has been messed up. I will try to look at the full article tomorrow.

Am I the only member of this website who is smart enough to provide a Link to the Article In Question?

Here’s the link to the Washington Post’s longer narrative form article:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics ... espionage/

It’s a lot to assimilate: so I’m not going to pretend I feel sure enough of my comprehension to comment on it right now.

Yea,that's an extensive article,even more so than the Reuters one I found,thanks for posting.

Apparently you are.

You have been awarded this token of recognition:

I didn't read the entire article, but have to question how were they able to persuade everyone but the Chinese and Russians to use their product? I understand the Swiss are neutral, but wouldn't some of these countries be suspicious when hearing how pleased some of their adversaries are with the product?

^The longer Washington Post article asserts that they used corporate buyouts to give Crypto AG a virtual monopoly in the market for high end state encryption devices.