A recent investigation by independent researcher Ciro Santilli has uncovered an interesting fact: the CIA used a Star Wars fan site to secretly communicate with agents abroad, 404 Media reports.
The StarWarsWeb.net website, which looked like a regular fan page for the cult film saga, actually had a hidden access system. If you entered the correct password in the search bar, a secure channel for communication with CIA officers was opened.
The site was designed in a 2010s style—with images of lightsabers, Yoda quotes, LEGO ads, and discussions of games like Battlefront 2 and The Force Unleashed II. Behind the facade of nostalgia was a real-life tool for espionage.
Santilli became interested in the topic after Reuters published the story America's Throwaway Spies in 2022. Using open data and technical expertise, Santilli discovered hundreds of similar sites created by the CIA. Among them were pages on humor, extreme sports, and music fan sites.
Other examples of CIA sites for contacting agents
Some of these sites targeted countries where CIA activity could have critical consequences, such as Iran and China. There, the discovery of such sites led to the exposure of agents and even their execution in 2011–2012. Other resources targeted users in France, Germany, Spain, and Brazil.
The CIA's main mistake was the use of similar IP addresses and other technical flaws that made it easier to detect. Although the story has tragic consequences, it is now seen as a cautionary tale — even the strongest intelligence agencies are not immune to mistakes, and on the Internet, secrets never stay hidden for long.