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.<\/p>\n
Before taking Cybersecurity Ethics, I generally understood ethical problems through my existing personal beliefs and my refined ideas of right and wrong. Throughout the semester, however, several topics gave me more specific ways to explain why certain choices are ethical and why simple cybersecurity decisions can affect people far beyond a computer system. Don\u2019t be mistaken; I did not agree with every ethical tool or belief that I\u2019ve learned throughout the course, such as contractarianism. However, even the theories I disagreed with gave me new ways to think about moral problems and better explain my own positions. Three topics in particular stood out throughout this course because they either gave me a new understanding of ethics or helped refine beliefs I already held.<\/span><\/p>\n The first topic would be Kant\u2019s categorical imperative through the short Superman comic story \u201c<\/span>What’s So Funny ’bout Truth, Justice & the American Way?<\/span><\/i>\u201d by Kelly, Mahnke, Bermejo, and Alquiza. This taught me how our principles matter most when violating them would be easier. Within the workforce, cybersecurity professionals may face pressure to deceive, invade privacy, misuse access, or justify questionable actions because they supposedly serve a greater purpose. However, the average user relies on us to create a safe and fair environment in order to make sure that they don\u2019t ever have to worry about an exploit that should have been patched since the 2000s affecting their online browsing. Kant\u2019s categorical imperative reminded me that those users should be treated as people with value rather than merely as a means to accomplish an organizational goal. Even when violating a person\u2019s privacy or trust could make a job easier, that does not automatically make the decision ethical. My main takeaway is to never create moral exceptions for myself simply because an unethical action would be convenient or useful.<\/span><\/p>\n The second topic was understanding consequentialism, particularly utilitarian reasoning, through the exhilarating short story <\/span>Understand<\/span><\/i> by Ted Chiang. As stated in my lesson, consequentialism focuses on the consequences of the actions people take. For a consequentialist, an action is right if its consequences are good and wrong if its consequences are bad. This sounds reasonable on paper, but through <\/span>Understand<\/span><\/i>, I learned just how dangerous this idea could become through the character of Reynolds. In the story, he believes he can improve humanity, but his entire plan relies heavily on his own judgment about what counts as a good outcome, and his methods create risks that complicate the claim that he is maximizing overall well-being. His vision also risks creating a world that depends too heavily on his continued guidance. Judging actions by outcomes sounds simple until you have to predict long-term consequences, account for uncertainty, and decide whose well-being matters. A person saying something is \u201cfor the greater good\u201d does not prove that it actually is. Cybersecurity constantly involves trade-offs, and this is something I must keep in mind throughout my future career. My main takeaway is that before justifying something by its benefits, I should question whether I actually understand all of its consequences and whose interests I may be overlooking.<\/span><\/p>\n For my third and last topic, I wanted to focus on one of my favorite case analyses that I\u2019ve done within the course, the Case Analysis on Privacy. Within this case analysis, I examined Google Street View and the ethical concerns surrounding how online platforms collect, expose, and manage personal information. This analysis has greatly refined and validated my beliefs about why privacy is essential and how many online platforms exploit users into sharing too much of their information. I used the ethical tool of Confucianism to explain why corporations and organizations with greater knowledge, power, and responsibility should protect the people who depend on their systems, but many organizations continue to fall flat when it comes to this very simple idea. Privacy is not merely about hiding embarrassing secrets. Technology can change how easily information travels and can expose people who never meaningfully chose to participate. The party with greater technological knowledge and power can therefore carry greater responsibility. In short, yes, with great power comes great responsibility. For my future career, I want to be able to work in an environment where no one\u2019s personal information is exploited, abused, or unnecessarily shared. For my main takeaway, do not wait for people to be harmed before considering privacy; anticipate foreseeable risks and build protections into the system from the beginning.<\/span><\/p>\n In closing, this has been a very fun class to go through. I am glad that I took this class, and I appreciate everything I have learned. Whether my beliefs were challenged or validated, I have learned a lot, and I truly hope that the short stories, case analyses, and overall lessons will stick with me throughout all of my future endeavors.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 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… <\/p>\n