Crypto AG controversies
Controversies tied to this brand in public sources. A listing is not a finding of fault.
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2020
Operation Rubicon and secret intelligence ownership
Investigations revealed that the CIA and BND had secretly owned Crypto AG for decades and used the company to obtain intelligence from communications encrypted with equipment sold internationally. The disclosure also prompted a Swiss parliamentary examination of the Swiss authorities' awareness and involvement.
1992
Arrest of Hans Buehler in Iran
Iran detained Crypto AG salesman Hans Buehler after suspecting that the company's systems enabled Western interception of Iranian communications. His detention and the subsequent dispute over bail became an early public episode in the wider Crypto AG controversy.
1986
Questions following the Libya communications episode
The US government's public use of intercepted Libyan communications after the Berlin discotheque bombing intensified suspicions that Crypto AG equipment might have allowed Western agencies to read protected traffic.