Career Paper – Hunter Morgan
Hunter Morgan
April 7th, 2024
CYSE 201S
Professor Bora Aslan
Social Science Within Ethical Hacking
I want to be an ethical hacker. The thrill of sneaking into a company’s database, even ethically, makes me have a passion for hacking. This job can also be known as a “pentester” and it is “the practice of using hacking techniques and tools to test the security of a computer system” (Shivanandhan). This job is heavily involved in the social sciences, since the job requires an ability to look at things a real cyber criminal would partake in. The social science concepts that I believe I will be dealing with the most as an ethical hacker would be behaviorism, social-exchange theory, rational choice theory, and case research.
Case Research
I believe case research has a tremendous role when performing as an ethical hacker. With a case study, it is meant to gather lots of data on a particular topic. If a case study was performed on, for example, cyber attacks on companies similar to the one you work for, then you would gain lots of knowledge regarding potential attack methods. This would let you focus on attempting those particular methods, and working on the betterment of your company’s system if you are able to get through.
Social-Exchange Theory
Social-exchange theory looks at the cost versus the benefit of a particular action. If an attacker knows he will get caught, he will realize the cost of interacting with your company is not worth the potential benefit. However, if your system is so secure, that the attacker realizes right away, then it will deter the simple cyber criminal. As an ethical hacker, if I am attempting to break into my company, and it is so obviously difficult to go in through a certain route, I will not risk it and will attempt to find another way. This will be very common for a pentester to do, since if they find a way to infiltrate the system, it will be patched, making the system more secure over and over again.
Rational Choice Theory
Rational choice theory is where “people calculate the costs and benefits of choices in making decisions” (Nickerson). Similar to the social-exchange theory, I will use this theory to observe the risk element and possible consequences that go along with my actions. I will have to decide which route to take in order to have the most success, yet also have the smoothest path while getting there.
Behaviorism
Behaviorism is one of the many concepts observed throughout the field of social studies, and it is personally one that I find to be very interesting. All social science concepts and theories provide “different ways of seeing and living in the world, as well as different understandings about how knowledge is understood and constructed” (The University of Queensland). Behaviorism, though, is especially prevalent in the cyber world. This is because if a cybercriminal sees someone have large success hacking in a certain way, they will also attempt to do that same method. As an ethical hacker, I have to follow these trends as well. If a large company has recently been hacked, I will have to make sure to follow that behavior closely in order to prepare my own company for an attack like that. If I am able to hack into my company using the same methods as the criminals, then I will be able to set up proper defenses.
Works Cited
Nickerson, Charlotte. “Rational Choice Theory: What It Is in Economics, With Examples.” Simply Psychology, 10 October 2023, https://www.simplypsychology.org/rational-choice-theory.html. Accessed 21 April 2024.
Shivanandhan, Manish. “How to Become an Ethical Hacker in 2023 — A Step-by-Step Guide.” freeCodeCamp, 16 January 2023, https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-become-an-ethical-hacker/. Accessed 7 April 2024.
The University of Queensland. “Social science theories, methods, and values – Introduction to the Social Sciences.” Open Textbooks @ UQ, 2023, https://uq.pressbooks.pub/introduction-social-sciences/chapter/social-science-theories-and-methods/. Accessed 7 April 2024.