Login With Google
CIA spied through Swiss encryption firm: report
Why is it in news?
- The CIA read the encrypted messages of several countries, including India, through its secretly owned Switzerland-based company trusted by governments all over the world to keep the communications of their spies, soldiers and diplomats secret, according to a leading American daily.
More in news
- More about the report
(1) The report by The Washington Post and German public broadcaster ZDF published on Tuesday said the company, Crypto AG, entered into a deal with the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in 1951 and came under its ownership in the 1970s.
(2) The joint reporting project, which uncovered the secret operation from CIA-classified documents, described how the U.S. and its allies exploited other nations’ gullibility for years, taking their money and stealing their secrets.
- Crypto AG
(1) The company specialised in communications and information security and was founded in the 1940s as an independent firm.
(2) The firm had clients such as Iran, military juntas in Latin America, India, Pakistan and even the Vatican, the report said.
- Use of rigged devices: The spy agencies rigged the company’s devices so they could easily break the codes that countries used to send encrypted messages.
Source
The Hindu