[kictanet] Why USA fears Huawei. For decades, the CIA read the encrypted communications of allies and adversaries

[Mwendwa Kivuva]

A must read on the intricate politics of encryption and espionage.

For more than half a century, governments all over the world trusted a
single company to keep the communications of their spies, soldiers and
diplomats secret.

The company, Crypto AG, got its first break with a contract to build
code-making machines for U.S. troops during World War II. Flush with cash,
it became a dominant maker of encryption devices for decades, navigating
waves of technology from mechanical gears to electronic circuits and,
finally, silicon chips and software.

The Swiss firm made millions of dollars selling equipment to more than 120
countries well into the 21st century. Its clients included Iran, military
juntas in Latin America, nuclear rivals India and Pakistan, and even the
Vatican.

But what none of its customers ever knew was that Crypto AG was secretly
owned by the CIA in a highly classified partnership with West German
intelligence. These spy agencies rigged the company’s devices so they could
easily break the codes that countries used to send encrypted messages.

Soviet Union and China, were never Crypto customers. Their well-founded
suspicions of the company’s ties to the West shielded them from exposure,
although the CIA history suggests that U.S. spies learned a great deal by
monitoring other countries’ interactions with Moscow and Beijing.


Read on ...
https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2020/world/national-security/cia-crypto-encryption-machines-espionage/
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