The CIA communicated with its agents around the world through a Star Wars fan site
4 June 2025 09:58
The American Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) used an ordinary-looking fan site of the Star Wars franchise to secretly communicate with its informants around the world. This is reported by 404 Media, citing a study by an independent cybersecurity expert, "Komersant Ukrainian" reports.
The website starwarsweb.net looked like a typical fan resource dedicated to Star Wars. It featured images of Yoda and C-3PO, advertisements for Star Wars games, and a link to an online store with franchise merchandise under the slogan “Do you want to be a Jedi?”
In fact, the site was part of an extensive CIA cover network that allowed US intelligence agencies to communicate with agents abroad. To activate the communication system, it was enough to enter a special password in the search bar of the site.
The CIA’s network was exposed by Iranian intelligence services more than a decade ago, which subsequently led to the deaths of dozens of American agents in China in 2011-2012. After that, the CIA stopped using this communication system.
Researcher Ciro Santilli discovered the Star Wars website and a number of other CIA fronts by analyzing open sources. Among them were sites dedicated to comics, extreme sports, and Brazilian music, which were probably used to work in Germany, France, Spain, and Brazil.
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The CIA’s main mistake was using consistent IP addresses for its cover sites. Once one site was identified, it was easy for researchers to find others on the same network.
Santilli conducted his investigation using only free online tools, including the Wayback Machine archive and the viewdns.info service. He analyzed hundreds of domains to identify patterns in the intelligence network.
Cybersecurity expert Zach Edwards confirmed the authenticity of Santilli’s findings, noting that information about this CIA network continues to emerge even 15 years after it was shut down.
A Citizen Lab researcher had previously identified 885 sites linked to this CIA operation after an Iranian informant disclosed the name of the website he was using, iraniangoals.com.
The CIA did not respond to a request for comment on this information. But now, starwarsweb.net leads directly to the intelligence service’s website.
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