Operation Rubicon was one of the largest, longest, and most successful signals intelligence operations of the Cold War. The deal to purchase Swiss cypher machine manufacturer Crypto AG, code named Minerva, was agreed and carried out in utmost secrecy. Enabled through intermediaries the details ...

June 16, 2023 - Operation Rubicon: The Most Successful Intelligence Heist of the 20th Century.

The clients used their Swiss cipher ... knowledge of significant events. Warwick University described Operation Rubicon as “the most successful intelligence heist of the 20th century.”...

Iran purportedly produced some of the “best” intelligence stolen by the CIA and BND. “In 1988, 19,000 Iranian messages were decrypted, which was 80-90% of their total traffic,” according to the Crypto Museum. ... Operation Rubicon exposed untold Cold War operations including the the Suez Canal Crisis (1956); the 1973 coup in Chile and overthrow of Salvador Allende’s government; negotiations on the Middle East conflict in the course of the 1978 Camp David Accords negotiations; the 1982 Falklands War between Argentina and UK; the US invasion of Panama; the Iranian Hostage Crisis (1979); and the Berlin Discotheque bombing (1986).

August 2, 2025 - Successful use of the information provided by Operation Rubicon includes the signing of the Camp David Accords and the identification of Libya as the architect of the La Belle discotheque bombing in Berlin (source).

September 17, 2025 - This was accomplished through the sale of manipulated encryption technology (CX-52) from Swiss-based Crypto AG, which was secretly owned and influenced by the two services from 1970 onwards.

June 5, 2023 - The purpose of the operation was ... called the “intelligence coup of the century” and allowed the US and Germany to spy on their allies and adversaries for decades....

January 14, 2026 - The intelligence coup of the century - The Washington Post ... Hagelin and Friedman: The Gentlemen's Understanding Behind ... ... Crypto AG (Switzerland) - Which algorithms were used and how did ... Operation Rubicon: How the CIA Listened in on Adversaries and ... The CIA's 'Minerva' Secret | National Security Archive · Operation Rubicon: the most successful intelligence heist of the 20th ...

February 11, 2020 - The operation, known first by the code name “Thesaurus” and later “Rubicon,” ranks among the most audacious in CIA history. “It was the intelligence coup of the century,” the CIA report concludes.

February 1, 2022 - Operation Rubicon started when Crypto AG was producing encryption machines, and as the company moved into the software industry, the operation evolved with the technology. Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya on Unsplash. For 50 years, the Central Intelligence Agency and its German counterpart held the keys to a backdoor method of monitoring the secure communications of at least 120 governments all over the world.

June 4, 2020 - ... From 1970 to, at least, mid-1990, ... Operation Rubicon, a SIGINT operation to gather encrypted government communications of other countries by manipulating Crypto AG devices before they were sold....

Operation Rubicon, originally known as Thesaurus, is considered to be one of the most successful operations in the history of espionage. It lasted over 50 years and was conducted by American (CIA) and German (BND) intelligence services. Details on the operation released in recent years provided ...

June 4, 2020 - ... From 1970 to, at least, mid-1990, ... Operation Rubicon, a SIGINT operation to gather encrypted government communications of other countries by manipulating Crypto AG devices before they were sold....

February 11, 2020 - The operation, codenamed Thesaurus and then renamed Rubicon in 1980s, demonstrated the overwhelming intelligence value of being able to insert flaws into widely sold communications equipment.

Operation Rubicon was probably one of the most successful intelligence operations of our time. Recent press revelations detail this secret partnership between the German Bundesnachrichtendienst (BN...

Crypto Museum have prepared a full in-depth review of Operation RUBICON, in which a detailed account of the

With ‘Operation Rubicon’, the CIA and the BND undermined the encryption security of foreign governments by controlling the Swiss technology company, Crypto AG. Puzzlingly, investigative journalists and customers increasingly identified the ...

On 15 February 2020, a few days after the revelation of Operation RUBICON, Peter Frutiger gave an interview to NZZ am Sonntag, in which he claims that he was fully witting of the project, and had actively been cooperating with CIA and NSA during his time at Crypto AG.