Star Warsologies 77: Cybersecurity in Star Wars

On this episode of Star Warsologies, we talk cybersecurity (or lack thereof) in Star Wars with expert Malia Mason.

There’s a lot of plot points around stolen data in Star Wars – Rebel Base locations, Death Star plans, undercover ISB agents just to name a few. Malia talks about her work and whether she would work for the good guys or end up recruited by the Imperials. Of course we cover R2-D2’s ability to plug into a random port on the Death Star and download information. Could that be because he was once Anakin Skywalker’s droid and has outdated permissions? And what does our expert think of data centers like on Scarif? Would she have cleared Galen Erso to work on something as critical to the Empire as the Death Star? We also talk about the meta level, as Star Wars uses deep fakes to de-age actors for prequels and uses artificial intelligence to bring us Darth Vader’s voice.

Note: We recorded this conversation on February 27, 2026 – the day before the US began attacks on Iran, so our discussion of cyberwarfare does not include breaking news.

Show Notes:

If you haven’t already, listen to our previous episode about wearable technology, which we discuss in terms of cybersecurity of all that personal medical data.

Check out this article about cybersecurity lessons in Star Wars!

And it’s never a bad time to rewatch Saturday Night Live’s Undercover Boss: Starkiller Base sketch, and the follow up sketch.

You can order James’s crossword puzzle book now! For a free puzzle, download the activity kit from Star Wars Reads!

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Star Warsologies is a podcast about science and other fields in a galaxy far, far away. Hosts James Floyd and Melissa Miller combine their love of storytelling in the franchise with their keen interest in all things academic.