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posted by Fnord666 on Wednesday February 12 2020, @11:03AM   Printer-friendly
from the put-all-your-secrets-in-one-basket dept.

'The intelligence coup of the century'

In case of paywall...
CIA Secretly Owned Crypto, the Swiss Company That Ruled Global Spy Comms for Decades, Says Report

For more than half a century, governments all over the world trusted a single company to keep the communications of their spies, soldiers and diplomats secret.

The company, Crypto AG, got its first break with a contract to build code-making machines for U.S. troops during World War II. Flush with cash, it became a dominant maker of encryption devices for decades, navigating waves of technology from mechanical gears to electronic circuits and, finally, silicon chips and software.

The Swiss firm made millions of dollars selling equipment to more than 120 countries well into the 21st century. Its clients included Iran, military juntas in Latin America, nuclear rivals India and Pakistan, and even the Vatican.

But what none of its customers ever knew was that Crypto AG was secretly owned by the CIA in a highly classified partnership with West German intelligence. These spy agencies rigged the company's devices so they could easily break the codes that countries used to send encrypted messages.

For the most goodest security, use only one commercial crypto system. Trust it with all your secrets.


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 12 2020, @06:03PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 12 2020, @06:03PM (#957300)

    so one lonely evening i found myself observing the native wildlife of scantily-clad-but-not-good-enough-looking-for-the-local-functionary-"let the tourists take care of the education of their children"-woman gyrating lazily and mostly bored on stage.
    when suddenly there was a commotion and a change of "le air" when the tall and well fed foreigner (probably already pre drunk) appeared in the establishment.
    looking around and finding a acquaintance the talk soon centered (loudly) on complaining about the natives and the dude that should take off his t-shirt because it was disrespectful to the CIA. gazing down i noticed that i was wearing the bright orange t-shirt i bought in phuket with the big letters "CIA" printed (fbi like) on front and back and was rather cheap but quiet thick fabric.
    i took a sip of the "single-parent-supporting" local beer trying to appear docile and non-aggressive and tried to concentrate on ... well ... something else, when a happy fellow gazed over from across the bar and remarked "don't worry, we're all from the cunt inspection agency here" *wink*.