The Sith Academy located on Umbara was founded by the Brotherhood of Darkness towards the conclusion of the New Sith Wars. As one of several facilities created for Sith training during that period, the Umbara academy specialized in developing Sith assassins and spies. Students were instructed in the ways of the dark side of the Force, and trained in stealth and treachery, with a preference for using the Force to kill, resulting in some of the most lethal assassins in the galaxy. Many centuries later, the Sith Lord Darth Maul and his brother, who was his apprentice, Savage Opress, traveled to the academy on Umbara.
The Brotherhood of Darkness employed the academy to train both Sith assassins and spies, notably including Umbaran shadow spies. These initiates demonstrated a stronger connection to the Force than their counterparts in the academies situated on Honoghr, Gentes, and Gamorr. At this location, trainees were taught to harness the dark side for purposes of secrecy, manipulation, and deception. Those who managed to survive the difficult training program became extremely dangerous assassins, favoring the use of the dark side for killing over reliance on physical strength.
During the era of the Clone Wars, several Sith individuals gathered at the ruined academy, including Darth Maul alongside his brother, Savage Opress, and also Varad Zagg. It was during this time that an unidentified Jedi Knight managed to infiltrate the academy, after discovering fragments of a Sith holocron, which was necessary to unlock the entrance, and after defeating various Dark Acolytes near the entrance. Once inside the academy, the Jedi Knight engaged in combat with four training droids, before proceeding to confront Varad, who generated illusions of Ahsoka Tano, Anakin Skywalker and Mace Windu.