Security News > 2020 > February > Crypto AG backdooring rumours were true, say German and Swiss news orgs after explosive docs leaked
Swiss encryption machine company Crypto AG was secretly owned by the CIA and a West Germany spy agency at the height of the Cold War, according to explosive revelations in Swiss and German media today.
Although rumours had swirled for decades around Crypto AG and the backdooring of its products by the West - cough, cough, NSA - and not forgetting careless remarks by former US prez Ronald Reagan, today's publications by Swiss broadcaster SRF and German broadcaster ZDF confirm those old suspicions.
The encryption machine maker was secretly bought by a Liechtenstein front company that was 50/50 owned by the CIA and German spy agency the BND. The two nations agreed to let Swiss spies in on their secret, while only a tiny handful of top Crypto AG personnel knew about the intentional weakening of its products.
Professor Alan Woodward of the University of Surrey was fascinated by today's revelations, telling The Register: "The original suspicions were raised because Reagan went on TV and talked about diplomatic cables that had been encrypted using a Crypto AG C52 machine. I think it was Der Spiegel who ferreted out the allegations by talking to certain Crypto AG staff."
Infosec veteran Bruce Schneier guessed years ago that Crypto AG had been compromised, blogging in 2004 about the 1992 arrest of salesman Hans Buehler in Iran over allegations that Crypto AG knew its equipment was compromised.