Between 2010 and 2013, the CIA operated an unusual covert communication system. Hundreds of seemingly innocent hobby websites, including gaming platforms and a Star Wars fan site called starwarsweb.net, served as secret messaging portals for U.S. spies and their handlers worldwide.
The system allowed operatives to log in to these ordinary-looking websites using special credentials, giving them access to secure back-end sections where they could communicate classified information. The idea was clever in theory: agents could blend their activities with regular web traffic on popular hobby sites.
However, this network had a fatal security flaw. Once a single site was compromised, foreign intelligence services could trace the connections back to real-world CIA agents through IP addresses and login patterns.
The collapse began when Iran first uncovered the hidden system, reportedly through information from a double agent. Iranian intelligence analyzed the communication platform and discovered technical fingerprints—shared code, design elements, and server connections—that allowed them to locate other similar CIA-operated sites across the internet.
Iran then shared or sold this information to Chinese intelligence services, who exploited the vulnerability to devastating effect. Over approximately two years, China’s Ministry of State Security systematically identified and captured dozens of CIA informants and operatives within their borders.
The consequences were brutal. Reports indicate that many of the captured assets were executed, with at least one Chinese intelligence officer working for the CIA reportedly executed publicly along with his family as a warning to others.
Security experts later criticized the CIA’s approach for lacking basic operational compartmentalization. By linking all sites to a central network, the entire system became vulnerable to discovery through a single breach. The websites all shared similar digital signatures that made them identifiable to skilled counterintelligence teams once they knew what to look for.
