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

At the start of the semester, I mostly thought good actions were the ones that led to the best results. I believed that if something helped the most people, it was the right thing to do, but after learning about Kantian Deontology, my thinking changed. This idea teaches that doing the right thing isn’t just about the results, it’s about doing your duty and following moral rules no matter what happens. I learned that we should act in ways we think everyone should act, and we should treat people with respect, not just use them to get what we want. This made me think more carefully about my choices and how I treat others. Even if something leads to a bad outcome, it can still be the right thing if it’s done for the right reasons. Takeaway: Before I act I should ask myself if I am doing the right thing, because it’s right and if I would be ok with everyone else doing the same.
While Kantian Deontology helped me see the importance of doing the right things for the right reasons, learning about virtue ethics added another layer to my understanding of what it means to be a good person. Instead of focusing on just rules or outcomes, virtue ethics is about becoming the kind of person who naturally makes good choices. It’s more about character and habits, things like honesty, patience and courage. This makes me think differently about how I act every day. It’s not just about big decisions but also small moments where I choose to be kind, fair or brave. I used to think morality was mostly about actions, but now I see it’s also about building a good character over time. Takeaway: Becoming a better person is not about being perfect, It’s about practicing good habits everyday so that doing the right thing becomes a part of who I am.
After learning about Kantian Deontology and Virtue Ethics, I started thinking more deeply about how ethics apply not just to individuals but also to businesses. Our unit on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) showed me that companies have a duty to care about more than just profit. They should also think about how their actions affect people, communities and the environment. Before this I didn’t think that much about the responsibility businesses have to do good. I assumed that if a business followed the law, that was good enough. Now I see that being ethical in business means thinking about fairness, sustainability and long term impacts. I was especially interested in the idea that companies can help solve social problems while still being successful. It helped me understand that ethics doesn’t stop at the personal level, it matters at every level of society. Takeaway: Whether I work for a company or start my own, I should always think about how business decisions affect others. Not just the bottom line but the world around me.

The three topics discussed above have significantly shaped my understanding of ethics. I see now that ethics is not just following the rules or achieving the best outcomes. Rather it is about building good character, making responsible decisions and considering the broader impacts of our actions. what is the count here