CIA on ProtonMail: “We can’t confirm or deny”

Did the CIA fund ProtonMail directly or indirectly? Are there any relationships between the CIA and ProtonMail? What documents does the CIA have about ProtonMail, the “secure email service from Switzerland”?

These and other questions were asked by a ProtonMail user of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the American foreign intelligence service.

The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), an American law on freedom of information, gives everyone the right to request access to documents from state authorities.

CIA on ProtonMail: “We can’t confirm or deny”

To the total of 12 detailed questions, the Information and Privacy Coordinator of the CIA answered the aforementioned user in a very close manner, namely essentially with “We cannot confirm or deny”:

The CIA has not found any documents that would publicly confirm a relationship between the CIA and ProtonMail:

«[...] we did not locate any responsive records that would reveal a publicly acknowledged CIA affiliation with the subject.»

With regard to all other documents, the CIA could not confirm or deny the existence or lack of documents relating to ProtonMail. The information as to whether such documents existed or not was confidential and could therefore not be disclosed:

«With respect to any other records [...], the CIA can be nor confirm nor deny the existence or nonexistence of records [...]. The fact of the existence or nonexistence of such records is itself currently and ordination and is intelligence sources and methods protected information from [...].»

The likelihood that the CIA does not have a single document related to ProtonMail is very small. After all, ProtonMail has over 50 million users, including many from the USA.

Background: Affair around the Crypto AG and the manipulated encryption devices

The non-information will encourage all those who suspect that ProtonMail is operated by intelligence agencies or at least has relations with intelligence agencies.

“For decades, more than a hundred states have been spied on by the CIA and BND. Hundreds of thousands of secret messages between government agencies, authorities, embassies or military bodies have been systematically intercepted.
How was that possible? The more than 100 governments bought encryption devices from the former Zug-based company Crypto AG. These ciphers were so manipulated that the two intelligence agencies could intercept everything. Newly leaked intelligence dossiers prove that Crypto AG was bought by the CIA and the BND in 1970 – veiled by a foundation in Liechtenstein. [...]»

The same applies to Infoguard AG, a sister company of Crypto AG:

“The fact that Infoguard was used for intelligence actions in the first phase of its existence – between 1988 and 1992 – is almost certain.”

It is no secret that the CIA is participating in “start-ups developing intelligence-related products” through the venture capital company In-Q-Tel:

A well-known example is the controversial company Palantir Technologies, which is also active in Switzerland. “The only investor and client was the CIA for years.”

Another well-known example was the American Keyhole Inc., which developed the software that is now known as Google Earth offered. The company “Keyhole” was a tribute to the CIA’s KH reconnaissance satellites, which were used for espionage between 1959 and 1972.

However, investment by the CIA is only exceptionally made so publicly.

“Meanwhile, In-Q-Tel has invested in hundreds of companies and manages assets worth several hundred million dollars. The official investment arm of the CIA is an exception. Normally, links between intelligence agencies and business enterprises are more discreet. [...]»

Intelligence: Investment for more surveillance?

Internet companies that promise their users privacy, security and confidentiality are not only a popular destination for investment in the United States:

This is how the British-Israeli IT security company Kape Technologies buys together VPn providers, most recently ExpressVPN. GhostVPN and Zenmate have also been in possession of Cape Technologies for several years.

“The company’s desire to buy is not all a sense. Observers such as the IT expert Felix von Leitner aka Fefe notice that Israel should thus become a stronghold for VPN services. Thus, increasing parts of the network communication encrypted on long distances could be recorded and intercepted comparatively simply by intelligence agencies of the country such as the Mossad, since there is no end-to-end encryption in VPN and data is available in plain text with the technology service providers.”

With ProtonVPN, Proton Technologies, the provider of ProtonMail, is also active in the VPN business.

- Attorney Martin Steiger

Martin Steiger is a lawyer and entrepreneur for law in the digital space. He deals in particular with data protection law, intellectual property law, IT law and media law. In addition to his legal practice, he is involved in the digital society and flies in his spare time as a private pilot. Martin Steiger is also co-founder of Legal Tech-Unternehmen Datenschutzpartner AG (Switzerland) and VGS Datenschutzpartner GmbH (Germany).