Teaching Cyber Threat Intelligence and Dark Web Analysis at the University of Rome Tor Vergata

Since February 2023, Pietro Melillo, Ph.D. (CISO at Würth Italia and Head of DarkLab at Red Hot Cyber) has served as an industry lecturer at the University of Rome Tor Vergata within the Master’s program in Cybersecurity. The lectures focus on Cyber Threat Intelligence (CTI), dark web monitoring, and the operational mechanics of the modern ransomware ecosystem.

Syllabus and Topics Covered

• Dark Web & Underground Markets: Structure of Tor hidden services, underground forums, Initial Access Brokers (IABs), and credential marketplaces.
• Ransomware-as-a-Service (RaaS): Affiliate structures, double- and triple-extortion pressure tactics, Data Leak Sites (DLS), and cryptocurrency laundering patterns.
• Intelligence Collection & OSINT: Collecting, normalizing, and pivoting across exposed infrastructure and leaked datasets using tools such as Shodan, IntelX, Have I Been Pwned, and VirusTotal.
• From Intelligence to Defense: Translating observed actor TTPs into concrete detection rules, hardening priorities, and third-party risk controls inside enterprise security operations.

Linking Academia and Enterprise Defense

The teaching material draws on both industry incident response and the empirical findings from Pietro Melillo’s Ph.D. in Information Technology for Engineering at the University of Sannio (2026), bridging academic measurement of ransomware disclosure surfaces with day-to-day CISO decision-making.