Assignment Description: “Read this: https://dojmt.gov/wp-content/uploads/Glasswasherparts.com_.pdf and describe how two different economics theories and two different social sciences theories relate to the letter.”

The first economic theory that connects to the sample breach letter is rational theory. This is because the company is making the rational choice to invest in working with a cybersecurity firm and law enforcement to secure their servers and protect their customers. In this case, the company is weighing the “pain” of the costs of cybersecurity with the “pleasure” of protecting their services in the future and trying to keep their customer base by showing progress and effort. The second economic theory is Keynesian economic theory because the government, specifically law enforcement, is getting involved. While there is no explicit mention of tax breaks or incentives, the law enforcement investigating the case is taking the costs of the investigation upon themselves that would’ve cost the company millions of dollars to investigate and solve by themselves.

One social theory that connects to the breach letter example is structural functionalism because it is the intersection of the company’s and the governments’ cybersecurity functions. The two different societal mechanisms are working together to contribute to security and protect the money of both the company and the users of the website. Lastly, the social conflict theory can be applied to the example because of both the hackers and the law enforcement. The hackers use their power of greater understanding of digital technology to steal user information for their own monetary gain. The law enforcement also exemplifies social conflict theory though because of their choice, as the organization with the most power, to make the company not notify users until February so they can further investigate the hackers. The law enforcement is taking advantage of their power to make a choice that benefits themselves but not the users, prioritizing catching the hackers over notifying users and allowing them to cancel their credit cards or use other methods to protect their data.