https://www.washingtonpost.com/2020/world/national-security/cia-crypto-encryption-machines-espionage/
‘The intelligence coup of the century’
For decades, the CIA read the encrypted communications of allies and adversaries.
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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.
The decades-long arrangement, among the most closely guarded secrets of
the Cold War, is laid bare in a classified, comprehensive CIA history of the
operation obtained by The Washington Post and ZDF, a German public
broadcaster, in a joint reporting project.