Ester Martinez Urias
May 1, 2024
PHIL355E
Cybersecurity Ethics
Reflective Writing Assignment
Cybersecurity Ethics for Future Me
Cybersecurity has become more and more about how we choose to deal with it and use it rather than what it is made for (to protect technology’s privacy). My assumptions about cybersecurity before diving deeper into my degree was that it was simply the way to use technology, and how to understand certain codes online to fix systems. Now that I have learned more about cybersecurity, especially cybersecurity ethics, I’ve learned that it is much more than just “IT related” jobs. It is the responsibility and morality of how I chose to display my knowledge about technology.
How can I use cybersecurity ethics for my day to day life? Understanding privacy. People should be entitled to their privacy, regardless of who they are or where they’re at. People deserve privacy because it helps them live a peaceful life where they feel safe and secure enough to be themselves. When referring to online privacy, we know that there are a lot of viruses, hackers and agreements that may interfere with the security of our privacy we have online. When thinking about this way, we must now understand what kind of information is being collected and why. By doing this, we can limit what kind of information certain sites take from us, but still have to worry about those hidden hackers who may be watching what we do online.
Not all cyber hackers are criminal hackers; some are ethical hackers! Having the knowledge of technology and knowing to use it for good rather than evil is vital. This is where digital forensics may come to understand the nature of hacking. When is it okay to hack into someone’s personal computer or phone data? Maybe if there’s a crime that’s been committed and this is the only way. Sure. But, it is never okay to hack into a loved one’s phone or even a stranger just for “fun.” Privacy plays an essential role in society, if someone is willing to invade your privacy rights then they should not be given access to such technologies. This also means, we have to update our cybersecurity policies and frameworks.
As someone who would love to become a social engineer, I know that sometimes I will have to go against these ethical standards in order to get what I’m looking for. Though I have permission from the company to trick other employees and steal as much information as I can, it can be scary to know that I might find something that I wasn’t planning on or wanted to know. For example, medical records, private emails, ect. Anything that I know I myself wouldn’t want someone else snooping at.
All in all, there is much more for me to learn in cybersecurity. I now hope that my ethical approach will only make me a better candidate and reliable one.