Sichere Inter-Netzwerk Architektur (SINA) is a cryptographic system developed by and a product of the

Bundesamt für Sicherheit in der Informationstechnik The Federal Office for Information Security (german: Bundesamt für Sicherheit in der Informationstechnik, abbreviated as BSI) is the German upper-level federal agency in charge of managing computer and communication security for the German go ...

, an arm of the

German government The Federal Cabinet or Federal Government (german: link=no, Bundeskabinett or ') is the chief executive body of the Federal Republic of Germany. It consists of the Federal Chancellor and cabinet ministers. The fundamentals of the cabinet's or ...

. It also has the anglicized name Secure Inter-Network Architecture. As of April 2024 the cryptosystem was employed by "many European governments for transmitting classified information".

History

SINA came to prominence in March 2023 when it was divulged in a court warrant for the arrest of the Austrian intelligence officer Egisto Ott, who has a relationship with

Wirecard Wirecard AG is an insolvent German payment processor and financial services provider whose former CEO, COO, two board members, and other executives have been arrested or otherwise implicated in criminal proceedings. In June 2020, the company ann ...

fraudster

Jan Marsalek Jan Marsalek (also Maršálek, born 15 March 1980 in Vienna) is an Austrian alleged white-collar criminal and former manager, known for his position as board member and chief operating officer of the German payment processing firm Wirecard. He h ...

, that a SINA laptop was handed to the Russian secret services, specifically the

Lubyanka Building The Lubyanka ( rus, Лубянка, p=lʊˈbʲankə) is the popular name for the building which contains the headquarters of the FSB, and its affiliated prison, on Lubyanka Square in the Meshchansky District of Moscow, Russia. It is a large Ne ...

office of the FSB. The Austrian authorities report that Ott received €20,000 for the laptop from Marsalek.

References

{{reflist Cryptographic software Communications in Germany Federal Ministry of the Interior (Germany) German history stubs