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
Reflective essay
When i first started this class i wasn’t really sure what to expect .Throughout this semester i have gained so much insight into what ethics covers and how it can apply to the world of cybersecurity. The top three sections that really found interesting and that stood out to me were the deontology ethical tool, ethics of care, and the module about privacy.
Deontology was one of my favorite sections that we learned about in this course. Deontology is the ethical view that an action is deemed ethical and just if the action is done out of good intentions and not just because you may favor someone or the outcome. Actions should be committed based on wanting to do good simply to do good and not seeking any reward or negative outcome from if either. I found this to be a great subject because I’m theory it is a great belief to live by but when it is applied to real life situations, it’s a little more ambiguous to dissect if someone is acting ethically or not. What I find the most difficult part of this belief is that when it comes down to acting ethically or just for those you oppose or may not agree with but by this belief system, in order to act ethically, you must be objective and aim to do good simply because it is the right thing to do no matter what.
Ethics of care is the view that doing right by those who are a part of your community of interdependence and those who are there for you is ethical. As long as you are acting in favor of those working your community then your actions are deemed good. What I find interesting of this view is that the actions could potentially affect another group negatively but as long as you and your “community” are supported and result in a positive outcome, then the actions are ethical. This is supported by the Belief that there is a huge value in community care and interdependence and that the care you show for others is reciprocated.
The other module i found interesting was privacy. The privacy section i found very interesting because it is a right of all citizens but in our module, we discussed how it was so clearly violated by the company google. Many countries and individuals made their disgust with the situation known but google did very little to adjust their actions or software they implemented for google maps. Another thing i found intriguing about the privacy section is how it does apply to deontology. Privacy is a right given to everyone and no matter how you may feel of any country or individual, if is ethical to respect that boundary and right of everyone and google showed they were not respectful of that right of the people by continuing their actions.
Through this entire semester, i have truly enjoyed this ethics course and i have learned information that i will carry with me through my educational career.