From the archive · A retrospective
Crypto AG’s customers bought secrecy from a company owned by the CIA and BND
A Swiss parliamentary investigation traced intelligence knowledge to 1993 and political leaders’ notification to late 2019.
Governments bought Crypto AG’s machines to protect their communications. The Zug-based supplier traded on the confidence associated with Switzerland, selling encryption equipment to more than 100 countries. The CIA and West Germany’s BND secretly owned the company, placing intelligence services inside the business supplying the locks on other governments’ messages.
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Ownership and manipulation rest on original multi-outlet reporting; Swiss state knowledge and oversight findings rest on the parliamentary investigation. Successor firms’ denials are included. A photographed historic machine is illustrative and is not alleged to be a compromised specimen.
Sources & further reading
- SRF/ZDF/Washington Post original Cryptoleaks investigationSwiss public broadcasting SRF
- Swiss Parliamentary Audit Delegation: Crypto AG findingsSwiss Parliament
- SWI reporting on Crypto oversight findingsSWI swissinfo.ch
- William Friedman report of visit to Crypto AG, 21–28 February 1955National Security Agency
