A lengthy investigation by the Washington Post revealed that, over the years, US and German intelligence services have used equipment from a Swiss company that specializes in encrypting communications, to spy on more than 100 enemy and ally countries.

The investigation - which was prepared by the newspaper in cooperation with the German television "ZDF" and the Swiss radio and television station "SRF" - revealed that the American and German intelligence services in 1970 bought the crypto company "Crypto AG" in the context of a "very secret partnership" with the intelligence service The German "BND" through companies registered in countries that consider tax havens.

After World War II, Crypto AG was raised on the throne of the portable encryption equipment sector, and it sold “millions of dollars” equipment to more than 120 countries.

The equipment that was sold to the United States allies was kept encrypted, and aside from it, the American agents were able to decode it, and the two intelligence agencies "manipulated the company's equipment in order to decipher the countries (customers) they used to direct their encrypted messages."

Assassinations and wars
In this way, US and German intelligence was able to monitor the hostage-taking crisis at the American embassy in Tehran in 1979, provide Britain with information about the Argentine army during the Falklands War, and follow up on assassination campaigns in Latin America.

This mechanism allowed the CIA to possess evidence of Libya's involvement in a 1986 attack on a nightclub in West Berlin that killed two American soldiers.

"The foreign governments were paying large sums to the United States and West Germany for a concession (but they were actually paying for) the access of at least two foreign countries (and sometimes they Up to five or six countries) on their most classified contacts "in reference to its alliance with British, Australian, Canadian and New Zealand intelligence.

As of 1970, the CIA and the National Security Agency "monitor virtually all Crypto operations" and make decisions related to employment, technology, manipulation of algorithms, and targeting of buyers. "

But the program did not allow spying on major opponents of the United States, especially the Soviet Union and China, for not dealing with "Crypto".

Clarify things
In 1993, BND sold its stake in Crypto because it feared that Washington would not be spying on its opponents, and that this would withdraw from its allies. Later, the progress achieved in the field of encryption allowed the CIA to abandon the company in 2018.

In response to a question by the American Press Agency, the CIA confirmed that it was "aware" of this investigation, without making any official comment about its operations.

For his part, former coordinator of German intelligence, Bernd Schmidbauer, told German television "ZDF" that the espionage process called "Rubicon" was indeed an intelligence operation, noting that it had contributed to "making the world safer".

In turn, the Swedish company, "Crypto International", which bought "Crypto AG" that the investigation "raises concern," denying the existence of "any link with the CIA and the German intelligence service."