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

End of Course Reflection

The first topic I would like to reflect on is that of privacy. The privacy case analysis focused on making me think about more ethical ways of implementing or deploying a new program that deals with a person’s personal information. As I went through the readings and thought about the botched implementation of Google’s Buzz and Street View services, it got me thinking about all the various aspects of what it takes to safeguard that personal data. The more that I thought about it, from data collection and storage, to displaying, analyzing, and disseminating people’s personal information all while keeping it protected, I realized how much of a massive undertaking it is from a programmer’s and a security specialist’s point of view. It never occurred to me that something like Google Street View would have images with people’s faces or other personal, identifiable details that were available to the whole internet. The takeaway for me is that even though your intentions for a new program or service that deals with people’s confidential information may be good, it can become a terrible thing if you do not fully research and collaborate with your customers and use their input to carefully plan out your design and implementation.

Another topic that “hit home” for me was the case analysis on Whistleblowing. I served in the military from 1999 to 2021, so most of my military career was during the Global War on Terrorism. Having done many deployments in the Middle East I was already familiar with some of day-to-day tactical operations there as well as the topic of Chelsea Manning. Whistleblower protections are an absolute necessity. The course material for this module was primarily focused on the business realm and it made me think a lot about the similarities and difference from a servicemember’s perspective. I will admit that things can and often do get hazy when it comes to whistleblowing within the military. Of course, every assumes that it is a servicemembers job to obey and follow lawful orders. So, when it comes to the subject of whistleblowing, just focusing on the “lawful orders” part should make it more clear-cut when deciding to blow the whistle or not, right? Unfortunately, that usually is not the case. Often servicemembers may feel conflicted because they do not want to put their peers, their command, or their country in a bad light. The same is true in the business world as well. The case with Manning and Wikileaks was a good one for me as it opened my mind a bit more to how civilians on the outside may have seen it. It is one of those huge topics that for every argument, there is a counterargument. My biggest takeaway from that module is just how much a whistleblower can affect change within an organization as well as how great the need for protections to be in place for those individuals is. Without them, I do not think anyone would come forward.

The topic on Information Warfare and whether Facebook engaged in it was a truly relevant one for today. The advent of social media has changed our lives over the years. I would even go as far to say that it has very much changed how human beings interact with each other overall. That topic alone could certainly be a whole other case study in and of itself. Sadly, anonymity within cyberspace gives a certain level of protection that can embolden and bring out the worst in people. That is something that has been demonstrated many times over the years. The readings about cyberspace and being ‘always online” made me realize just how difficult it is to govern, manage, or regulate these virtual spaces, but just how important it is that we strive to do so, as daunting a task as that may seem. The fact that other countries can interfere with government services and elections in other countries is terrifying. Unfortunately, threats to people’s ways of life can come from within as well. And not just by malicious virtual acts, but also through misinformation. Misinformation is another major reason that we need better policies and regulations in place for social media and other online platforms. These are just a few of the many reasons why cybersecurity specialists are in such high demand now.