I believe that the scientific principles of relativism, objectivity, parsimony, ethical neutrality, and determinism must be adhered to cybersecurity. Below are explanations I have for each scientific principle and how it relates to cybersecurity.

Relativism –

Technology drives changes in our world, and changes in our world drive the changes in our technology. That’s where relativism comes in. Relativism is the concept that all things are interrelated. Cybersecurity is not only extremely important but also connected with everything in our world. Without cybersecurity our world would be severely impacted. 

Objectivity –

When we conduct our research, we should conduct with objectivity. Objectivity means that we should not let internal factors affect our judgement. Our internal factors change our decisions and emotional state. Therefore, when conducting our research, we should always put our internal factors to the side and try to view things from an unbiased state of mind. 

Empiricism –

Empiricism is when conclusions and evidence come from observations and experience. All theories must be tested against rather than drawing a conclusion solely from intuition. This can be used in cybersecurity by testing our infrastructure. Without testing our infrastructures, hackers could easily spot a weak point and get into our systems. 

Parsimony –

My understanding of parsimony is that it tells us to choose the simplest outcome. When it comes to cybersecurity, only the data necessary should be chosen and processed. Another example of parsimony is keeping things as simple as possible for people outside that field. For example, hackers usually hack for money, for their own entertainment, or for other personal reasons. Anyone can understand that reasoning when it’s put into simple terms. However, you can’t understand on a deeper level why exactly they made that decision.  

Ethical Neutrality –

When working on something without applying ethics to it, you are being ethically neutral. Science is ethically neutral because it refers to the standards that are held when conducting research. You can only be ethically neutral if you conduct your work without the influence of others. As well as not being influenced by your own emotions or ethics. Imagine if you work in cybersecurity, your job, regardless of your view on things, is to ensure privacy, fairness, implementing security measures, and handling data. If you were unethical or easily influenced, you could leak data, ruin infrastructures, and so on. Making sure you stay ethically neutral ensures you do your job fairly. 

Determinism –

Determinism states that human activity is predetermined or in other words, inevitable. When it comes to cybersecurity, a weak infrastructure is bound to be hacked. Any vulnerabilities that are overlooked and not fixed are bound to be infiltrated. Hackers have little to no self-control and look for weak points in infrastructures. Thinking of every possible outcome while working in cybersecurity can help ensure there are no weak points. Therefore, having a deterministic view helps create a well thought out plan for any unforeseen cyber disaster.