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

One of the motivations I had for choosing Cybersecurity as a career choice was the ethical concerns I have within new evolving technologies. This class helped to orient my thoughts in a constructive philosophical manner to help me convey my views in nuanced ways. This class has changed the way I approach new ideas and concepts in light of the complex, intricate, and multidisciplinary topics within ethics and technology. By researching and writing on these case studies in this class, I have strengthened my critical thinking skills as these topics were perplexing to come to a complete consensus on. These cases confronted my original viewpoints and challenged me to reevaluate my initial knee-jerk reactions to topics that were nuanced and polarizing. At first, I had trouble articulating any ethical discipline to help debate my standpoint but through this class, I have gained knowledge on different ethical tools to polish my views. My thoughts have changed, deepened, and I have gained new perspectives through this process that I know will aid me in my future career.

Key takeaways:

1. Deontology/Kantianism

In this class, we learned about 7 different ethical philosophies. Deontology/Kantianism was one of the ethical tools that challenged me to take a different ethical angle. The overall idea focuses on the intentions of an act or behavior that is determined ethically based on respect and duty and not out of fear or punishment. However, Kant’s categorial imperative resonated with me the most: “Act so that the maxim of your actions can be willed as a universal law” – to simplify this in my own words, it means that any action you decide to do (ethical or unethical) means you are modeling it to others, signaling that it is okay for them to do it too. This concept is so deeply rooted in our human psyche as from infancy we learned best by mirroring others around us, and that growth model does not change but continues to evolve as we age. This ethical tool in the context of categorial imperative will help me take accountability and not make exceptions for myself in my career. Holding myself to ethical standards sets precedence for everyone around me. My takeaway is this: if you want to see change, model it.

2. User Data

During the semester, we wrote a paper on the ethical debate on the topic of User Data in the context of privacy rights. This case analysis provided me with insight into how data collection research is utilized today with seemingly little consideration of the possible ramifications and precedence it may have on society. Where do the implications lay when cogitating what constitutes ethical or unethical in this new terrain of research? Where conceptualizing human subjects in the digital slowly turns them into data points on a graph. The human element in big data research can easily be blurred as faces fade, as they are replaced with numbers in their place. Since this is a multimillion-dollar industry, what rigorous checks and balances are in place to avoid a society where the intent of the analysis could be used to identify an ISIS supporter to being readily available to identify Brazilian soccer fans or women in middle eastern countries that do not adhere to the head coverings laws. These methods can be used to detect any specific individual. There are valid concerns about the uneasiness of how this will be utilized, who will have access to it, and how will it be managed so no one can manipulate it. This is a topic I am interested to stay up to date on and would like to contribute one day to the possible solutions to help safeguard User Data.

3. Revisiting Ethical Standards with Advancing Technologies

After every case analysis in this class, the reoccurring theme of revisiting ethical standards kept resonating with me. It is the preamble we need to take to start being proactive to innovate effective ethical solutions to these complex issues. With our modern lives ever evolving more into the digital, it is evident that old implications of ethical standards need to be reevaluated collectively to make proper changes when technology creates new spaces and concepts in the infosphere.  This class helped me to conceptualize how important it is to constantly advance our ethical understanding to meet the new challenges that technology brings.