The Rest Is Classified 96. Selling The World's Secrets: Is The CIA Reading Your Messages? (Ep 1)
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Nov 3, 2025 The CIA's covert control of Crypto AG reveals a shocking history of deception and surveillance. Dive into the fascinating world of encryption, from the legacy of the Enigma machine to modern spying techniques. Learn how the CIA and its allies exploited supposedly secure devices sold to various nations, leading to major geopolitical events. Personal ties between key figures fueled decades of clandestine operations, and a mysterious death adds an edge of intrigue. Discover how this intelligence coup transformed global espionage.
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Secret Company Enabled Wide Surveillance
- Crypto AG was a Swiss firm secretly controlled to enable mass decryption of foreign communications.
- The operation connected technical codebreaking with human relationships to scale global surveillance.
How Early Cipher Machines Worked
- Early encryption machines used mechanical rotors and looked like typewriters with evolving complexity.
- Secure communication depended on matched machines and shared settings between sender and receiver.
Hagelin's Wartime Escape And Sales
- Boris Hagelin fled Europe in 1940 carrying two cipher machines and built a major business in the US during the war.
- He sold hundreds of thousands of machines to militaries, making him a key supplier of encryption devices.
