
Crypto AG: The NSA's Trojan Whore? (1998) - Ansil849
http://mediafilter.org/caq/cryptogate/
======
Ansil849
Submitting this old piece to highlight the fact that the revelations about
Crypto AG being an intelligence front were already known more than 20 years
ago, and are only now coming back into the public consciousness after the
recent WaPo story [1].

[1]
[https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2020/world/national-...](https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2020/world/national-
security/cia-crypto-encryption-machines-espionage/)

Edited to add:

Here is a very abridged timeline of major news revelations around Crypto AG
prior to the WaPo story earlier this week:

[1992] Crypto AG employee Hans Buehler is arrested in Iran on espionage
charges [1].

[1] [https://www.upi.com/Archives/1992/03/30/Iran-arrests-
Swiss-m...](https://www.upi.com/Archives/1992/03/30/Iran-arrests-Swiss-man-
for-espionage/7727701931600/))

[1995] Scott Shane and Tom Bowman publish an expose in the Baltimore Sun,
describing internal company documents which reveal NSA's relation to Crypto AG
[2].

[2] [https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-
xpm-1995-12-10-19953440...](https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-
xpm-1995-12-10-1995344001-story.html)

[1998] Wayne Madsen writes a detailed piece on the NSA/Crypto AG relation for
Covert Action Quarterly [3].

[3]
[http://mediafilter.org/caq/cryptogate/](http://mediafilter.org/caq/cryptogate/)

[2015] Gordon Corera at the BBC publishes a story detailing newly-declassified
internal NSA memos which document the NSA/Crypto AG relation.

[4]
[https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-33676028](https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-33676028)

~~~
whatshisface
The WaPo story talked at length about the early media attention. What
distinguishes the old information from the new information is that now we have
documentation from the CIA itself.

------
dang
The related WaPo article was discussed here:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22297963](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22297963)

