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 semester, engaging with various topics in cyber ethics has fundamentally changed and deepened my understanding of corporate responsibility, whistleblowing, and information warfare. These three modules stood out to me in particular as each offered rich, sometimes conflicting perspectives that challenged my initial assumptions and shaped my evolving views.

Corporate Social Responsibility

When we first explored corporate social responsibility, I was immediately struck by the tension between Milton Friedman’s view and Melvin Anshen’s perspective. Friedman’s argument in “The Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase its Profit” initially seemed straightforward: businesses should focus on profit-making within the bounds of the law and ethical custom. Before this course, I might have naively agreed, thinking that the primary moral obligation of a corporation was economic. However, reading Anshen’s “Changing the Social Contract: A Role for Business”, and analyzing the Equifax breach through Ron Lieber’s “Why the Equifax Breach Stings So Bad”, added crucial nuance. I came to understand that corporations operate within a broader social fabric; their decisions can have profound effects on the public beyond shareholder returns. The Equifax case illustrated the catastrophic consequences of neglecting public trust and ethical duties for profit.

Key takeaway:

Future self, remember: Profit does not exist in a vacuum. Sustainable success is built through integrity, transparency, and respect for the communities a business impacts.

Whistleblowing

The Whistleblowing module offered another profound shift in my thinking. Reading “Whistle Blowing and Rational Loyalty” by Vandekerchove and Commers, alongside Julinna Oxly’s and D.E Whittkower’s pieces on care ethics and loyalty, complicated my previous views. I had often thought of whistleblowing as simply an act of betrayal or courage depending on the situation. The ethical frameworks introduced, in particular care ethics, challenged me to see whistleblowing through the lens of relational obligations and moral loyalty– not blind loyalty to an organization, but rational loyalty to the well-being of others and to ethical principles. Our case analysis of “Collateral Murder?” forced me to confront the uncomfortable reality that loyalty to justice sometimes demands difficult, deeply personal choices that risk social and professional alienation.

Key takeaway:

Future self, remember: true loyalty is not to institutions, but to people and principles. Acting ethically sometimes requires risking everything for what is right.

Information Warfare

The final topic that resonated with me was the information  warfare module. I was fascinated, and somewhat alarmed by Lt. Col. Jarred Prier’s “Commanding the Trend: Social Media as Information Warfare” and Valerie Morkevicius’ “Just War Thinking and Wars of Information”. Prior to this module, I associated warfare mostly with physical conflict; I had not appreciated how deeply digital narratives and social media manipulation could erode democratic institutions. Reading “The Cover War for American Minds” revealed just how vulnerable stable societies are to disinformation campaigns that weaponize polarization and distrust– especially as we enter the age of Artificial Intelligence. This module forced me to rethink the ethics of information dissemination and responsibility– both at the governmental level and the individual level. I now see information literacy and digital responsibility not as luxuries, but as civic duties critical to the preservation of ethical public discourse.

Key takeaway:

Future self, remember: Information is power. In an age of digital conflict, staying vigilant, critically informed, and ethically engaged is essential to safeguarding truth.

Looking back on this semester, I recognize that cyber ethics is not simply a matter of abstract theory– it is lived every day in corporate boardrooms, whistleblower decisions, and digital landscapes. My thinking has grown deeper and more cautious; I am more aware of the complex link between profit, loyalty, truth, and responsibility. I hope to carry forward these lessons into my future career, striving to alway act with integrity, critical awareness, and a commitment to the common good.

 

References:

Anshen, M. (1970). Changing the Social Contract: A Role for Business. Columbia Journal of World Business, 6–14.

Friedman, M. (1970). The Social Responsibility of Business Is to Increase Its Profits . New York Times Magazine .

Lieber, R. (2017). Why the Equifax Breach Stings So Bad. The New York Times, 1–9. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/22/your-money/equifax-breach.html

Morkevičius, V. (2023). Just war thinking and wars of information. Routledge Handbook of the Future of Warfare, 251–261. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003299011-27

Oxley, J., & Wittkower, D. E. (n.d.). Care and Loyalty in the Workplace. In Applying Care Ethics to Business, Issues in Business Ethics (pp. 221–243). essay, Springer Science + Business Media.

Prier, Lt. C. J. (2017). Commanding the Trend: Social Media as Information Warfare. Strategic Studies Quarterly , (Winter), 50–85.

Shedd, D. R., & Stradner, I. (2024). The Covert War for American Minds: How Russia, China, and Iran Seek to Spread Disinformation and Chaos in the United States. Foreign Affairs , 1–10.

Vandekerckhove, W., & Commers, M. S. R. (2004). Whistle blowing and rational loyalty. Journal of Business Ethics, 53(1/2), 225–233. https://doi.org/10.1023/b:busi.0000039411.11986.6b