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Uncovering threats from the surface web and darknet: A qualitative analysis of content relating to cybersecurity and critical infrastructure

Resource type
Thesis type
(Thesis) M.A.
Date created
2022-08-16
Authors/Contributors
Author (aut): Zhang, Yuxuan
Abstract
The increasing connectivity of critical infrastructure (CI) is now exposing facilities and institutions to malicious actors who aim to cause significant damage. During the process of a cyber-attack, open-source data could be used by hackers to gather information, knowledge, and plan attacks against targeted CI sectors. The purpose of the current study is to explore and identify the types of data useful for malicious individuals intending to conduct cyber-attacks against the CI industry. Applying and searching keyword queries in four open-source surface web platforms and one darknet forum, search results were reviewed and qualitatively analyzed to categorize information that could be useful to hackers. The thematic results from this study reveal an increasing amount of open-source information useful for malicious attackers against industrial devices, as well as the necessity to implement policies and preventative strategies to counter the increasing threat against critical infrastructure brought by accessible open-source information.
Document
Extent
80 pages.
Identifier
etd22103
Copyright statement
Copyright is held by the author(s).
Permissions
This thesis may be printed or downloaded for non-commercial research and scholarly purposes.
Supervisor or Senior Supervisor
Thesis advisor (ths): Frank, Richard
Language
English
Member of collection
Download file Size
etd22103.pdf 2.61 MB

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