Cybersecurity Ethics

This course examines ethical issues relevant to ethics for cybersecurity professionals, including privacy, professional code of conduct, practical conflicts between engineering ethics and business practices, individual and corporate social responsibility, ethical hacking, information warfare, and cyberwarfare. Students will gain a broad understanding of central issues in cyberethics and the ways that fundamental ethical theories relate to these core issues.

Course Material

Throughout this Cybersecurity Ethics course, many of my ideas about ethical decision making have been impacted. Before being able to discuss any deeper topics, the first important topic was privacy. Privacy has largely been impacted through widespread use of the internet. By studying privacy in this course, I was able to understand why it is such a delicate topic. When considering privacy on the internet, programmers must consider the possible uses of applications and users must examine how use of the application could affect their privacy. Users also often tend to create privacy issues through use of applications without protection. The takeaway that I obtained from studying privacy referenced protection for myself and other users when utilizing the many applications the internet offers. Privacy could easily be exploited by any application on the internet without proper knowledge given to the user or without the necessary product safety in place. Privacy in cyber security is important, and there must be guidelines followed to ensure positive use of applications.

Prior to the course, I did not have a concrete knowledge about the moral theory of contractarianism. By exploring the moral theory of contractarianism, I was able to understand the importance of operating by the unspoken social contract between all members of society.  This added knowledge allows me to review problems in a different way than I would have previously. When looking at issues presented, I am able to separate my personal wishes from the problem and focus on what is needed to complete the contract that I innately have with other members of society. To apply this to the cyber realm, it is important to consider how choices in building an application will impact users. The takeaway that I gained from learning about this moral theory is that, often, it is important to view your obligations from an outside source. Personal feelings about an issue do not matter when there is a contract to be fulfilled.

Conversely, I was able to learn about the topic of whistleblowing. Whistleblowing allows for the correction of actions within a contract. Whistleblowing takes place when someone, typically an employee of an organization, to expose information about an organization, public or private, that is deemed to be illegal or otherwise immoral. Prior to this introduction, I did not have very deep knowledge referencing whistleblowing or its implications. After gaining knowledge on the subject through learning more about WikiLeaks, I was able to have a deepened understanding of what whistleblowing exactly is and when it is appropriate or not. Whistleblowing is a very serious issue because it could challenge the integrity of the whistleblower or the involved organization. The takeaway that I got from learning about whistleblowing is that, should the need to take action arise, the option needs to be considered from the appropriate viewpoint in order to determine if it is ethical to do so or not. If executed incorrectly, there could be serious consequences for the whistleblower, in addition to any consequences suffered by the organization. When pairing contractarianism with whistleblowing, an informed individual will be able to make ethically sound decisions.