Uncle Sam Is Watching You: How US Heard India’s Confidential Conversations

Uncle Sam Is Watching You: How US Heard India’s Confidential Conversations

SUMMARY

Crypto AG has more than 120 countries as its clients

Crypto AG gained popularity after the US used its services in World War II

Crypto AG went for liquidation in 2018

For decades, most of the governments around the world relied on a Switzerland-based company Crypto AG for securing communications with their spies, security and intelligence agencies.

While most of these countries, including India, had trusted the encryption service of this information security company, a report by The Washington Post and a German public broadcaster ZDF has now revealed that Crypto AG was sharing confidential information with the intelligence agency of the US — the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

Founded by Boris Hagelin, Crypto AG gained popularity after it bagged the project to secure communications of the US during World War II. After that, the company became one of the major companies in this segment and started to sell various security devices including mechanical gears, electronic circuits, silicon chips, and software.

Besides India, Crypto AG was also the preferred company for governments sitting in Iran, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and even the Vatican for securing their confidential communications. However, neither of Crypto AG clients ever found out that the company was secretly owned by the CIA and continued to trust the company.

Uncle Sam Is Watching You

According to the media report, the CIA had a confidential partnership with West German intelligence Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND) for the Crypto AG deal. After this deal, the CIA had redesigned the encryption services of Crypto AG to gain access to every encrypted conversation of the company’s clients. Notably, BND had pulled itself out of the deal in the 1990s.

After the case came to light, the Switzerland government had now said that it has set up an investigation to find out the links of Crypto AG with the US and German-based intelligence agencies.

While the media report hasn’t given any details of CIA listening to Indian classified communications, it has cited other examples of operations of Libya, Iran, and other South American countries. However, if the CIA was listening to these confidential conversations, then it can be speculated that the CIA was also listening to most of India’s highly classified operations as well.

Interestingly, four other countries — Israel, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom — were reportedly also aware of this highly classified partnership between the CIA and Crypto. These countries also reportedly received intelligence inputs from the CIA.

After decades of dominance in the information security segment, Crypto AG went for liquidation in 2018. At that time, it was bought by two other companies: CyOne Securities and Crypto International.

Note: We at Inc42 take our ethics very seriously. More information about it can be found here.

You have reached your limit of free stories
Become An Inc42 Plus Member

Become a Startup Insider in 2024 with Inc42 Plus. Join our exclusive community of 10,000+ founders, investors & operators and stay ahead in India’s startup & business economy.

2 YEAR PLAN
₹19999
₹7999
₹333/Month
UNLOCK 60% OFF
Cancel Anytime
1 YEAR PLAN
₹9999
₹4999
₹416/Month
UNLOCK 50% OFF
Cancel Anytime
Already A Member?
Discover Startups & Business Models

Unleash your potential by exploring unlimited articles, trackers, and playbooks. Identify the hottest startup deals, supercharge your innovation projects, and stay updated with expert curation.

Uncle Sam Is Watching You: How US Heard India’s Confidential Conversations-Inc42 Media
How-To’s on Starting & Scaling Up

Empower yourself with comprehensive playbooks, expert analysis, and invaluable insights. Learn to validate ideas, acquire customers, secure funding, and navigate the journey to startup success.

Uncle Sam Is Watching You: How US Heard India’s Confidential Conversations-Inc42 Media
Identify Trends & New Markets

Access 75+ in-depth reports on frontier industries. Gain exclusive market intelligence, understand market landscapes, and decode emerging trends to make informed decisions.

Uncle Sam Is Watching You: How US Heard India’s Confidential Conversations-Inc42 Media
Track & Decode the Investment Landscape

Stay ahead with startup and funding trackers. Analyse investment strategies, profile successful investors, and keep track of upcoming funds, accelerators, and more.

Uncle Sam Is Watching You: How US Heard India’s Confidential Conversations-Inc42 Media
Uncle Sam Is Watching You: How US Heard India’s Confidential Conversations-Inc42 Media
You’re in Good company