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
In the duration of this course, I have become the most aware of how my data is handled than I have in my entire life. From the very beginning of the semester when we read about Google and their ethical issues regarding privacy and Google Street View, I decided to change all Google services I was currently participating in and opt for companies I found to have better privacy standards. Before the privacy unit, the sale of personal data never really occurred to me, or even bothered me as much as it does now. After, I believe the privacy in every way possible must be protected in order to prevent anyone from being recognized or identified in any way. From this unit, I have taken the knowledge of how companies are accessing and vaguely protecting the privacy of the users involved. Companies like Facebook using accounts appearing as public to be able to improve their advertisement effectiveness has led me to confirming and changing all public accounts to private to prevent companies from obtaining information about me in this manner.<\/p>\n
After the unit of privacy, we discussed how data that was legally obtained by companies and organizations was being handled. In my opinion, the data that is legally obtained by companies is completely moral to use for product research and ad targeting as long as the information collected is stored securely and without a doubt unable to identify anyone with the information stored. I would also like to input that if the data stored is somehow leaked, the company should be fined a substantial amount. As discussed in the unit, the research team collected highly sensitive information from their internet accounts, insider researchers within the student body, and information provided by the university. They stored this information in an unsecure way that would allow almost anyone with access if they asked. I took the stance of Consequentialism that, in summary, stated any entity that recognized the privacy and sensitivity of individual\u2019s information and produced measures to further protect and enforce rules against the misuse of the information is considered a moral entity. This specifically applied to the rules set forth by the GDPR that would fine and enforce rules against companies who misused the information of Europe citizens.<\/p>\n
A major part of this semester was professional ethics including different codes of ethics and the act of whistleblowing. Before this unit I had the mindset that if one is working for a company, then that person is considered loyal to the company unless they do something to hurt the company. I have realized now that my understanding of loyalty to a company was very surface level and did not fully recognize the level of loyalty one could have with the company they work for. I gained the viewpoint that one is considered loyal to the ideals and statements of the company rather than the company as an entity. This allows the employee to whistle blow internally to attempt the rectification of the suspected wrongdoings. Before the unit I also had the opinion that whistle blowing, no matter the scenario, was wrong and could be considered \u201ctreason\u201d against the company. However, now I understand that there are ways to whistle blow internally to prevent the company being affected from the public having information of the suspected wrongdoings.<\/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