For decades, the CIA secretly owned the world's leading supplier of encryption technology.

Cultures · Published 10 October 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: From 1970 to 2018, the Swiss firm Crypto AG sold encryption devices to over 120 nations. Unbeknownst to these governments, the company was a front for the CIA and West German intelligence, who rigged the machines to effortlessly intercept and read the most sensitive state secrets of their global customers.

The origins of this espionage operation trace back to Boris Hagelin, a Russian-born Swedish inventor who developed mechanical encryption devices before World War II. During the war, the United States Army purchased 140,000 of Hagelin's portable, hand-cranked machines to secure field communications. This wartime collaboration established a deep relationship between Hagelin and U.S. intelligence, setting the stage for a far more ambitious project decades later.

In 1970, the CIA and the West German BND intelligence agency secretly acquired Crypto AG. For nearly three decades, the company operated as a subsidiary of the CIA, even as it became the world's primary supplier of encryption equipment. By selling these compromised devices to governments across Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, and parts of Europe, the U.S. and its partners gained unprecedented insight into the plans and intentions of adversaries and allies alike. This intelligence proved critical in tracking terrorist operations, such as the 1980s Berlin disco bombing, and even assisted the United Kingdom during the Falklands War.

The operation, known by code names like Minerva and Rubicon, had distinct limits. The Soviet Union and China, wary of Western-based technology, never purchased Crypto AG equipment and remained unpenetrated by the program. While the firm's true ownership remained hidden behind bearer shares for years, a 2020 investigation revealed that the Swiss government was not only aware of the spying but had actively benefited from it. The company was eventually liquidated in 2018, marking the end of one of the most audacious intelligence operations in history.

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