Crypto AG, the world's leading encryption company, was secretly owned by the CIA and BND for decades

For decades, Crypto AG seemed like a straightforward Swiss success story. Founded in 1952, the company became the world's dominant supplier of encryption devices, selling to over 120 governments across six continents. By the 1970s, presidents, prime ministers, and military commanders trusted Crypto AG's machines to protect their most sensitive secrets. What none of them knew was that their most trusted ally in communications security had been compromised from within since 1970.

The claim that Crypto AG was secretly owned by American and German intelligence agencies was not new. Cryptography experts and security researchers had raised suspicions for years, noting odd patterns in how easily some encrypted communications seemed to be penetrated. But these were theories without proof, dismissed by the company and largely ignored by governments who had already made enormous investments in Crypto AG systems. The official narrative held firm: the company was an independent Swiss firm, bound by Swiss neutrality and corporate confidentiality.

That changed on February 11, 2020, when the Washington Post published an investigation that stunned the intelligence community itself. Using declassified documents and interviews with former officials, the Post revealed that the CIA and Germany's BND had secretly acquired Crypto AG in 1970 through a complex financial arrangement. The operation, codenamed "Rubicon," was so sensitive that even many government employees didn't know about it. Internal CIA documents described it as "the intelligence coup of the century."

The implications were staggering. For fifty years, the CIA and BND had systematically weakened the encryption in devices sold to allied and hostile nations alike. Countries believed they were protecting their communications while American and German intelligence read them almost as easily as unencrypted messages. The operation targeted everyone from close NATO allies like Italy and Spain to Middle Eastern governments and developing nations. Even Iran and Libya, despite being adversaries, bought Crypto AG equipment — unknowingly purchasing surveillance devices disguised as security tools.