I think there could be many ethical issue that may come up over the storage of personal data. I will be talking about privacy, accuracy, property, access for the purpose of this entry. The privacy aspect falls right in our cyber security wheelhouse. is the data or information being kept by major companies and organization safe from prying eyes? This answer unfortunately is never clear or black and white. The cyber security field always says you can not stop every attack just hope to make it hard for them. So, there is no sure fire way to stop the data or information from being hacked. The other issue is the company or organization keeping the data. Not ever company protects the data same. Even in this day and age some companies still do not treat cyber security as an important piece of the business plan. People’s personal information should be the upmost important thing for any business or organization to protect. This information in the wrong hands can ruin a person financially. The wronged person will struggle with putting their financial life back together, because the laws in this country have not caught up to the real world problems that can occur when ones’ personal information is used fraudulently. Accuracy of the information is also an issue. Who and what can the company or organization do or change the information. We the people give this data are expecting the data to be the same ten days, ten months, ten years from now. The hope is that data is not changed. A person’s health record if changed by accident or for malicious intent could have life altering affects, misdiagnosis and insurance issue with regards to payments from insurance companies and co pay issues.

Property of the data is a growing issue. Who owns the data? is the question at the heart of this issue. People should have ownership of the data to delete or change it at will. this poses issues with companies that store and use the data. This leads into another ethical issue of access. With access comes our “right” to change or delete the information, but access also comes with huge security issues on a scale that not many companies would be able to handle either financially or logistically. So, as a lot of things in this country will come down to the legal system to answer and balance the ethical treatment of our data and the responsibility of the companies or organizations that collect and use the data. The people should keep this in mind when deciding whom to give personal information to.

Major differences in how the US and other countries are handling the cyber security threats are fairly basic. The differences are in the differences on views of privacy and governmental styles. The US has already by an act of the president, have put into place basic frameworks to be used to secure networks. These frameworks are to help companies be prepared and have a basic security based on what information they are keeping. The US also does not have many laws to protect the average person in most cases. The companies are the most important “people” and little has been done to hold them accountable for the security of the data. Europe is currently working on the laws that will govern this area of security for the member countries. They have put into place basic laws that companies will need to follow, with penalties if not followed and an attack occurs. This is a fundamental difference in governing styles between the US and other countries. Privacy is a right in Europe and it is a “right” in only certain cases in the US. This by no means says they are right and we are wrong. It is just a difference of going about the need for security.