Special report: The CIA secretly bought a company that sold encryption devices across the world. Then, its spies read everything.
One of the biggest mysteries of the Cold War, revealed: wapo.st/crypto
One of the biggest mysteries of the Cold War, revealed: wapo.st/crypto
For decades, the CIA read the encrypted communications of allies and adversaries.
The operation was described as "the intelligence coup of the century." wapo.st/crypto
The operation was described as "the intelligence coup of the century." wapo.st/crypto
The CIA — in partnership with West German intelligence — secretly owned a Swiss company, Crypto AG, that sold rigged encryption devices to 120 countries.
wapo.st/crypto
wapo.st/crypto
The arrangement — one of the most closely guarded secrets of the Cold War — is laid bare in a classified, comprehensive CIA history of the operation obtained by The Post and ZDF, German public television.
wapo.st/crypto
wapo.st/crypto
The CIA sold off the company's assets in 2018, but Crypto's products are still in use in more than a dozen countries around the world.
wapo.st/crypto
wapo.st/crypto
