CSA 410 - Dark Web Analysis and Threat Detection

(3 credits)

As vast as the Internet is, most people would be surprised to learn that the Dark Web is even larger and more extensive. It can’t be searched by Google, and in many ways is the twenty-first century equivalent to the wild west of the 1800’s. This course introduces students to the Dark Web and how it differs from the surface web all of us use every day. In the marketplaces of the Dark Web, virtually everything and anything is for sale. This course is primarily hands-on for students. Students will create online persona, and learn how to use TOR (the Onion Router) to access and navigate the Dark Web safely and anonymously. They will then use a variety of digital tools and techniques to assess online threat scenarios. Students will identify threat actors, retrieve evidence, and prepare reports of their findings. Caveat, the content of the Dark Web can be explicit and disturbing. Prerequisite(s): CSA 130, CSA 210. Spring (alternate years).