Editing Crypto AG (section)

{{Short description|Defunct Swiss cryptography company}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2015}}
{{Infobox company
| name = Crypto AG
| logo = Crypto AG logo.svg
| type = 
| genre = 
| foundation = 1952
| founder = [[Boris Hagelin]]
| defunct = 2018
| location_city = [[Steinhausen, Switzerland|Steinhausen]], [[Canton of Zug|Zug]]
| location_country = [[Switzerland]]
| location = 
| locations = 
| area_served = 
| key_people = 
| industry = [[Cryptography]]
| products = 
| services = 
| market cap = 
| revenue = 
| operating_income = 
| net_income = 
| assets = 
| equity = 
| owner = [[Central Intelligence Agency]] (1970–2018)<br>[[Federal Intelligence Service]] (1970–1993)
| num_employees = 
| parent = 
| divisions = 
| subsid = 
| homepage = {{web archive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020530170046/http://www.crypto.ch/|title=crypto.ch}}
| footnotes = 
| intl = 
| predecessor = [[AB Cryptograph]]
}}
'''Crypto AG''' was a Swiss company specialising in communications and information security founded by [[Boris Hagelin]] in 1952. The company was secretly purchased in 1970 by the US [[Central Intelligence Agency]] (CIA) and West German [[Federal Intelligence Service]] (BND) for US $5.75{{nbsp}}million (equivalent to ${{inflation|US|5.75|1970}}{{nbsp}}million in {{inflation/year|US}}){{inflation/fn|US}} and jointly owned until about 1993, with the CIA continuing as sole owner until about 2018.<ref name="Miller"/><ref name="paul_article">{{cite web |title=The Scandalous History of the Last Rotor Cipher Machine |url=https://spectrum.ieee.org/the-scandalous-history-of-the-last-rotor-cipher-machine |first=Jon D. |last=Paul |publisher=[[IEEE]] |date=August 31, 2021 |access-date=September 15, 2021}}</ref> The mission of breaking encrypted communication using a secretly owned company was known as [[Operation Rubicon]]. With headquarters in [[Steinhausen, Switzerland|Steinhausen]], the company was a long-established manufacturer of [[encryption]] machines and a wide variety of cipher devices.<ref name="paul_article" />

The company had about 230 employees, had offices in [[Abidjan]], [[Abu Dhabi]], [[Buenos Aires]], [[Kuala Lumpur]], [[Muscat]], [[Selsdon]] and [[Steinhausen, Switzerland|Steinhausen]], and did business throughout the world.<ref name="crypto-offices">{{cite web|url=http://www.crypto.ch/index.php?id=126&L=0%5C%22%20onfocus%3D%5C%22blurLink%28this%29%3B
|title=Headquarters and regional offices worldwide|accessdate=2008-01-06|publisher=Crypto AG|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110516233908/http://www.crypto.ch/index.php?id=126&L=0%5C%22%20onfocus=%5C%22blurLink(this)%3B|archive-date=2011-05-16}}</ref> The owners of Crypto AG were unknown, supposedly even to the managers of the firm, and they held their ownership through [[Bearer instrument|bearer shares]].<ref>{{cite news|last=Müller|first=Leo|url=http://www.bilanz.ch/unternehmen/spionage-unheimlich-kooperativ|title=Spionage: Unheimlich kooperativ|date=2013-09-18|work=Bilanz|access-date=2017-03-30|language=de-CH|archive-date=22 August 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160822100520/http://www.bilanz.ch/unternehmen/spionage-unheimlich-kooperativ|url-status=dead}}</ref>

The company has been criticised for selling [[backdoor (computing)|backdoored]] products to benefit the American, British and German national signals intelligence agencies, the [[National Security Agency]] (NSA), the [[GCHQ|Government Communications Headquarters]] (GCHQ), and the BND, respectively.<ref name=LT2015/><ref name=BBC-2015-07-28 /><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-51467536 |title=Swiss machines 'used to spy on governments for decades'|work=BBC News|date=11 February 2020|access-date=2020-02-13}}</ref> Crypto AG sold equipment to more than 120 countries, including [[India]], [[Pakistan]], [[Iran]], and multiple [[Latin America]]n 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.<ref name="Miller" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=The CIA's 'Minerva' Secret {{!}} National Security Archive |url=https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/chile-cyber-vault-intelligence-southern-cone/2020-02-11/cias-minerva-secret |access-date=2023-04-23 |website=nsarchive.gwu.edu}}</ref><ref name=DWrussian>{{cite news |last=Шаталин |first=Вадим (Shatalin, Vadim) |url=https://www.dw.com/ru/%D1%81%D0%BF%D0%B5%D1%86%D1%81%D0%BB%D1%83%D0%B6%D0%B1%D1%8B-%D1%81%D1%88%D0%B0-%D0%B8-%D0%B3%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%BC%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%B8%D0%B8-%D0%B4%D0%B5%D1%81%D1%8F%D1%82%D0%B8%D0%BB%D0%B5%D1%82%D0%B8%D1%8F%D0%BC%D0%B8-%D0%BF%D1%80%D0%BE%D1%81%D0%BB%D1%83%D1%88%D0%B8%D0%B2%D0%B0%D0%BB%D0%B8-%D0%B1%D0%BE%D0%BB%D0%B5%D0%B5-%D1%87%D0%B5%D0%BC-%D1%81%D1%82%D0%BE-%D1%81%D1%82%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%BD/a-52345480 |title=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. |trans-title=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. |language=ru |work=[[Deutsche Welle]] |date=12 February 2020 |access-date=11 October 2023}} [https://www.compromat.ru/page_41032.htm 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)</ref> On 11 February 2020, ''[[The Washington Post]]'', [[ZDF]] and [[Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen|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" ({{langx|de|Rubikon}}) and the CIA called it "Minerva".<ref name="Miller">{{cite news|last=Miller|first=Greg|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2020/world/national-security/cia-crypto-encryption-machines-espionage/|title=The intelligence coup of the century|date=11 February 2020|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=11 February 2020|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200211123518/https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2020/world/national-security/cia-crypto-encryption-machines-espionage/|archive-date=11 February 2020}}</ref><ref name=DWrussian/> According to a Swiss parliamentary investigation, "[[Swiss intelligence agencies|Swiss intelligence service]] were aware of and benefited from the Zug-based firm Crypto AG’s involvement in the US-led spying".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/swiss-intelligence-benefited-from-cia-crypto-spying-affair/46153706|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20201111022708/https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/swiss-intelligence-benefited-from-cia-crypto-spying-affair/46153706|archive-date = 11 November 2020|title = Swiss intelligence benefited from CIA-Crypto spying affair| date=10 November 2020 }}</ref>