It might sound like the plot of a spy thriller, or even something out of the Star Wars galaxy itself, but during the 2000s, the CIA was running actual fan sites as part of their secret operations. The idea was simple: what looks more harmless than a Star Wars fan site, filled with game news, LEGO links, and spoiler discussions?
For most visitors, these pages were just another stop in their online fandom journey. But behind the scenes, these sites hid secure login portals for covert communication between the CIA and their field agents.
Table of Contents
How the CIA Turned a Star Wars Fan Site Into a Secret Spy Tool
You might think the CIA’s methods for staying in touch with field agents would involve shadowy meetings or encrypted phone calls. But in the mid-2000s, the agency decided to blend in with everyday internet culture instead.
By launching innocent-looking websites, like “starwarsweb.net”, they created online hubs packed with Star Wars news, game reviews, and even a LEGO shop.
On the surface, these sites were no different from any other fan page. But hidden in plain sight were special login portals and coded features, allowing CIA informants and handlers to exchange information without drawing suspicion.
To most fans, it was just another cool Star Wars community. To the agency, it was a cutting-edge piece of spycraft—at least until the real world caught up with them.
The CIA’s Star Wars Fan Site Was Just One of Hundreds
According to an in-depth Reuters investigation, the CIA’s secret communications network included hundreds of mass-produced fake websites, covering everything from beauty tips and fitness to TV personalities and Star Wars fandom. These sites, including the Star Wars fan page, were not custom-built for top-level spies but were instead “cookie-cutter” platforms assigned to individual lower-level informants to reduce overall risk if one was caught.
Cybersecurity researchers Bill Marczak and Zach Edwards exposed just how insecure these sites really were. As Reuters reports:
“Marczak and Edwards quickly discovered that the secret messaging window hidden inside Iraniangoals.com could be spotted by simply right-clicking on the page to bring up the website’s coding. This code contained descriptions of secret functions, including the words ‘message’ and ‘compose’—easily found clues that a messaging capability had been built into the site.”
Instead of being stealthy, the sites were all built from similar templates and purchased in bulk, often sharing server space and even sequential IP addresses:
“The result was that numerical identifiers, or IP addresses, for many of these websites were sequential, much like houses on the same street.”
This made the network shockingly easy to map once a single site was discovered. As Marczak put it,
“The CIA really failed with this… The covert messaging system, he said, ‘stuck out like a sore thumb.’”
Reuters confirmed with former CIA officials that these generic sites were never intended for the agency’s most valuable sources, but rather for “sources who were either not considered fully vetted or had limited, albeit potentially valuable, access to state secrets.” As one former official put it,
“This is for a person viewed as not worth the investment of advanced tradecraft.”
Ultimately, this vulnerability had devastating consequences, as discovering just one site allowed foreign intelligence services to unravel the wider network and expose U.S. assets across more than 20 countries.
What Did the CIA’s Star Wars Website Actually Look Like?
You can’t access the real site anymore; these days, starwarsweb.net just sends you straight to cia.gov. The original fan site has vanished, with only a few snapshots preserved on web archives. If you’re curious, you can still get a glimpse of its old layout using the Wayback Machine at web.archive.org.
Just type “starwarsweb.net” into the search bar and hit enter. For the best snapshot, select December 30, 2010, from the calendar.
From here, choose the time from the calendar “December 30, 2010.”
You’ll be able to see the site as it once was: a colorful, quirky Star Wars fan page, never hinting at the secret communications system hidden beneath the surface. Take your time to explore and imagine how something so innocent-looking once played a part in real-world espionage.
Or you can simply click right here, I’ve already linked the archived version of starwarsweb.net for you to check out.
So then you can definitely go through and explore the website.
