Program trap

A program trap was an internal command that could turn a droid into an ad hoc explosive device, or against its owners. The term was also used to refer to droids who had been sabotaged in such a manner. In order to be effective, a slicer would have to surreptitiously place a program trap in the droid's primary performance banks. Once hidden amidst the data that the droid required to fulfill its primary functions, the program trap would wait to be initiated as a result of certain factors—be it a predetermined signal, time or event—in order to cause a power overload in the droid. This overload would result the self-destruction of the droid, which caused an explosion roughly equivalent to that of a moderately-sized bomb. When the Tantive IV was captured by the Galactic Empire, C-3PO worried that—among other things—the Imperial boarding party would try to minimize their risk of being killed by droids rigged with program traps by shooting him and R2-D2 on sight.

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Appearances

• Tales of the Jedi: Dark Lords of the Sith audio drama
• Tales of the Jedi – Dark Lords of the Sith 3
• Star Wars: Droids Special
• Droids (1995) 3
• Droids (1995) 4
• Star Wars: A New Hope novelization (and unabridged audiobook) (First mentioned, in book)
• "The Great Herdship Heist" — Star Wars Adventure Journal 15
• The New Rebellion

Sources

• A Guide to the Star Wars Universe
• A Guide to the Star Wars Universe, Second Edition, Revised and Expanded
• The Essential Guide to Characters
•  Star Wars Customizable Card Game — A New Hope Limited Card: Program Trap) (backup link
• Star Wars Encyclopedia
• The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia

Notes and references