Cybersecurity Ethics

Throughout this course of Cybersecurity Ethics, I have learned so much about moral decisions in a cyber incident. My thoughts have changed throughout the different things I have learned in a positive and mind-opening way. It is always important to make choices based on ethical decisions. The three things that have changed my actions and thoughts throughout this class were privacy, professional ethics, and corporate social responsibility. 

One reason my actions and thoughts have changed in this course was learning about privacy. Privacy is such an important part of cybersecurity that is invaded throughout the world. In all of the Case Analysis that was completed, Privacy was used throughout all of them in some sort of way. In the Case Analysis on Privacy, it points out in the articles that the privacy of individuals is violated in the world today. The article on Google street view shows the invasion of privacy that occurs when taking pictures of individual houses, businesses, and their faces. Also, it occurs in social media sites which users should be aware of. Facebook, Snapchat, and Twitter are all common social media sites that violate the privacy of other users. It is important to realize that privacy is not followed through on technology devices. It has changed my actions and thought about what I post on social media, the subject I conversate with others and the apps/websites I download or lookup. It is very important to know that your privacy on the web is not actually private. 

My thoughts have also deepened after reading the article “Confidentially: A Comparison Across the Professions of Medicine, Engineering and Accounting”. In this article, it explains the issues that a professional business should not assign jobs that are not ethical. A job was accepted by a man in cybersecurity. The job role that he was assigned caused a young girl to take her life. Accepting a job that could cause harm and danger to an individual is not an ethical profession. After reading and writing about the Case Analysis on Professional Ethics, it is important to take this action into consideration while working in the cybersecurity profession. Also, it is important to accept a job that has a Code of Ethics. Accepting a job that has a code of ethics will allow the environment to be positive rather than negative. Being able to have trust along with a safe environment is a good code of ethics to accept a profession. There will be times that I might be offered a job in which the role required doing something that is not professionally ethical. In that case, I would not accept the job. The same rules go for not having a real ethical, Code of Ethics, in which I would not accept that job as well. This has changed my point of view on accepting professions.  

Lastly, Corporate Social Responsibility has changed my thoughts on businesses around the world. It is absolutely important to realize the social responsibility that different corporations show towards their producers and consumers. After reading the article about the breach that occurred in Equifax, it is important to notice that they did not show responsible actions after the breach occurred by notifying their customers or freezing their accounts without fees. Being aware of the way that corporations treat their employees and their customers are very important. Corporations should be making choices based on the best interest of their environment and their society. My thoughts have changed to recognize which companies that I shop, or use based on the way the corporations use social responsibility. It has also changed my thoughts for the future if I ever owned a business of my own. 

Overall, this cybersecurity ethics class has been an eye-opener to many different things that occur throughout the world. It is important to realize the privacy of technology devices that are invaded and ways that it can be an eye-opener. Looking out for professions that show a Code of Ethics is very important to look for while looking for jobs along with remembering to always follow ethical decisions when being asked to perform an action. Being able to do research about corporations and making sure that social responsibility is being used throughout the business is a great way to look for businesses that are trustworthy to employees and customers.  Cybersecurity ethics has changed many views in my eyes.

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.