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

In my end-of-the-course reflection, I will write about privacy, data ethics, and Kant’s view of deontology. The first module for this semester was on privacy. The article attached to the case analysis was about Google Street view and how many people were furious because it violated their privacy. The street view released some embarrassing photos of people and showed people’s license plates. It was a situation where google had to make some changes so they would not get in trouble with the local governments like in the EU. Google street view is particularly useful for the public, but they should have been more careful when taking pictures. A violation of someone’s privacy is never acceptable. This article made me think twice about the Google Street view. I knew that it was something good, but I did not acknowledge that google intruded on many people’s privacy. I think Google should have done testing before implementing their new service to ensure that they were respecting people’s privacy while also following the law.

The very next topic that we went over was data ethics. We talked about the significance of protecting user data. The article that was covered in this case analysis was about the GDPR, and the question was Should the United States adopt the GDPR. In my paper, I said yes, as I wish the US would do something about protecting our privacy online. I don’t use social media, but I shop online and use some online subscriptions. I would love the ability to be forgotten on some websites that I used to use. Now my email is constantly being flooded by them asking me to come back even after asking to be taken off their mail list. I also feel that if the US adopted GDPR, it would slow up on people getting scam calls and emails. The GDPR will make companies clear on what they are doing and using people’s information. Most of the people you scam get the information from websites selling people’s data.

The last topic I would like to discuss is Kant’s idea of deontology. I thought the story of Superman was so interesting because it relates to the real world. Not a lot of people do the right thing. And many people that do the right things have a terrible mindset behind it. That is not how the world should work. Everyone should try to do the right thing genuinely. That is the level of respect we should have for others. Too often, people get caught up in “following the crowd”; everyone wants to be a part of a trend because of the opinions or the negative comments that come with being the “good person.” In our society today, there are a lot of judgmental people. Superman was the odd man out in the story because he disagreed with the Elites. They thought killing people was ok. Superman stood up for the right thing. He knew killing people was never the answer. There is always an alternative. Catching bad guys was something Superman took pride in, and he didn’t care if he had to see them a million times. He knew that his job was necessary, and killing the bad guys was not the answer.

This course has made me look at things differently. If I don’t have the right mindset behind anything I do, I shouldn’t do it. Everything I do should have a positive effect not only on me but on the people around me. So, I think I will try to look at things from a consequentialist point of view. Continue to stand up for what is right. Try to look at or understand something from multiple points of view. A takeaway from this course is learning that it is ok to stop and think and analyze the things around you. I do not put my personal information online. I also learned that everything does not have to be shared with the world and that I should have an important level of respect for myself and my information.