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.

Reflective Writing Assignment

     Throughout this Cyber Ethics course, I learned about important ethical topics that I used as tools to work out different case analyses. It was with these topics that changed the way I think about different situations and how to handle them. Three things I’ve worked on this semester that stood out to me the most was understanding Kantian deontology, the case analysis on data ethics, and the case analysis on whistleblowing and loyalty. The concepts I grasped whilst doing these assignments allowed me to see ethics in new ways, and I hope to retain them in the future.

     When reading about Kantian deontology, it just seemed too unrealistic to me at first. The idea that a person should always do the right thing no matter what the consequences are just felt impractical. I thought this way because there are many dilemmas, such as the Heinz dilemma, that would challenge Immanuel Kant’s reasonings. I believed there are certain situations where it would be okay to put the things that matter first before any morals. But after applying Kantian concepts to Superman’s situation in the comic, “What’s So Funny About Truth, Justice, and the American Way?”, I started to understand its value. I realized that there is more to Kant’s view than just ignoring the consequences of your actions. Instead, making sure that your intentions are good and come from a place of respect is what is really important. Overall, I’d say my key takeaway from this assignment was to always lean towards doing the right thing based on principles, even when it’s difficult.

     The next topic I’d like to talk about would be my analysis on data ethics. Before taking on this assignment, I thought that using public data was okay since it’s already available for everyone to see. However, after reading Zimmer’s article and a chapter from O’Niel’s book, I came to a realization that there are more implications that come along with public data, especially if it is online. For example, even if data can easily be accessed by anyone, choosing to use it in any way without the consent of the owner can put that person in harm, or it can break your trust between that person. We see this problem arise when Zimmer talks about the T3 facebook research study. In this assignment, I also learned about feedback loops and how collecting data can create unfair patterns, which benefits one group of people over others. From now on, I know that just because data is publicly available, it doesn’t mean it would be right to use it. Consent and fairness are important when working with data.

     The last topic I want to talk about is whistleblowing and loyalty. At first, putting the words whistleblowing and loyalty in the same sentence seemed contradictory to me. I supposed that loyalty meant having unconditional support for the people you respect. But after learning the terms rational and critical loyalty through this assignment, loyalty doesn’t necessarily mean blindly supporting others or your organization. Instead, I would say to stay true to the values they stand for, and if they choose to go against these values, it would be imperative to hold them accountable. Thus, making whistleblowing justifiable because it comes from a place of care and morals. From this topic, I learned that whistleblowing and loyalty can be complementary to each other as isn’t always an act of betrayal. In the future, I know to stand up for what is right, even if that means calling out the people I care about for their wrong doing.