Reflection

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.

Within this cybersecurity course, not only did it defeat me in terms of having to use my cognitive resources heavily to implement the ethics to certain scenarios, but it also broadened my knowledge in terms of how ethics works. As an individual who is not prone to writing as well as utilizing critical thinking skills towards the instance of information such as the ones provided in this course, it caused me to challenge myself immensely. There were a variety of concepts as well as topics, perspectives and positions embedded within this class that we were required to educate ourselves on. However, three of these contents within the course expanded my knowledge within philosophy by how we were obligated to apply ethical tools to the case analysis’ that we were required to do weekly. The first topic that peaked my interest tremendously was the case of Whistleblowing that emerged with module five. As an individual who did not know what the term was, it came as a surprise in the Manning case where I was exposed to her action of executing this. Because it occurred within the United States, it had me intrigued seeing as to how an individual could be that brave in terms of disclosing secretive U.S. government files to the public. This module deepened my thoughts in terms of assessing what else the government could potentially be hiding within its confidential forms, it implemented a sense of shock.

A takeaway that I can apply to my life within this topic was that Manning showcasing an immense sense of strength and courage in terms of executing what she did motivated me. Although she reaped the consequences, it showcased bravery through an action that I hope to achieve in terms of my career someday. The second perspective that deepened my intellect in terms of dealing with cybersecurity ethics arose from establishing that the United States within the case of module two, Data Ethics, should have possessed the same privacy laws as Europe implements. Seeing as to how other countries do not profit off their civilians as much as the United States does, it invokes my theory of why capitalism is deemed more important than the privacy of its citizens within this country. My takeaway from this module was implementing a smarter sense of fully learning the laws that the United States has exhibited, as well as using this instance to always apply care ethics to things that I delve into within the future. The third topic which peaked my interest tremendously was applying the ethical reasoning tool Ethics of Care for the story provided named Mother of Invention by Nnedi Okafor. This was by far my favorite assignment within the course because it promoted science fiction is a way that was very enjoyable for me as well as extremely understanding. The story involved a pregnant African woman, specifically Nigerian, who had a deadly allergy but had to keep herself safe in terms of her and her baby surviving. The story in itself showcased an efficient method of writing as well as induced a great understanding of how one can implement an ethical tool regarding the story in a scholastic manner.

By doing this assignment, it challenged me by allowing to use my cognitive skills and exhibit how the ethical tools can be applied to a story. The takeaway from this assignment indicates a better understanding that I now have in terms of expressing as well as applying terms in order to fully eradicate how they coincide within the instance of Mother of Invention and the ethical tool of Ethics of Care. Overall, my experience within this course challenged me immensely and although it was difficulty in terms of grasping and applying terms to concepts that were a bit foreign to me, it aids into the notion of me being able to use my cognitive skills at a faster rate. This proves good to the career I will hold in the future and in the cybersecurity field because not only am I absorbing how to apply the philosophy of ethics within any instance of cybersecurity, but it also expanded my perception to the subject of philosophy. It is important it is to acquire these skills because it solves as way to obtain the ability to enhance communication skills as well as implement the skill of solving problems that one can execute within cybersecurity as a subject and future field.