Ethics is the study of right and wrong, justice and injustice, and the rationale behind our moral judgments. A larger definition of ethics considers issues of freedom, accountability, and justice as they pertain to individuals and their relationships with the natural world and one another. The concept of ethics has entered the everyday vocabulary of technologists and is widely recognized as having a significant educational value in technical professions around the world (Vallor & Rewak, 2019). Cyber security measures are implemented to ensure the safety of information, infrastructure, and networks online. Cyber security safeguards the integrity, usefulness, and reliability of human institutions and practices that depend on data, systems, and networks (Vallor & Rewak, 2019). Given the growing complexity and difficulty of safeguarding online data and system controls, the ethical obligation to protect others that cyber security professionals bear is becoming increasingly significant, placing ethical considerations at the heart of cyber security activities.
Understanding our life interests is one method to weigh the rewards and drawbacks of a situation. In cyber security, practices can impact the fundamental interests of humans, such as privacy and property. Identity theft, in which a person’s name and other identifying details are taken and then used to conduct fraudulent financial transactions in the victim’s name, is one of the most prevalent forms of privacy invasion that can occur online. Lax patching efforts, antiquated encryption techniques, and a lack of incident response strategy are all examples of bad cybersecurity practices that can do more than just fail to protect sensitive data; they can also do serious harm to individuals and businesses (Vallor & Rewak, 2019). Indirectly, the property can be at risk from data privacy breaches through methods like extortion. Yet, digital and physical assets are frequently the direct target of cyber intrusions designed to steal digital funds, steal valuable intellectual property like trade secrets, get bank account numbers and passwords, or harm an organization’s digital or physical assets. The high cost of cybersecurity is another ethical concern that should always be taken into account when designing and implementing security measures. Cybersecurity requires a significant investment of time, money, and knowledge from individuals and businesses. In most cases, the costs associated with inadequate cybersecurity measures are significantly greater and intolerable (Vallor & Rewak, 2019). Other ethical issues include transparency and disclosure and roles, duties, and interests in cyber security. In terms of duties and roles, several different people and groups have competing interests and responsibilities when it comes to cyber security. In such situations, it may be difficult to determine to whom we owe the highest degree of ethical concern or whose interests we should spend the most time and energy preserving.
Although some cyber security procedures may be legal, they may nonetheless be unethical. Network users, clients, businesses, the general public, and cybersecurity professionals can suffer serious consequences due to unethical or morally questionable cybersecurity actions. Common ethical challenges for cyber security professionals include challenges in balancing security with other values that may be in tension with it, challenges in threat response or if there are concrete plans for worst-case scenarios, challenges in security breaches/vulnerability or if there is a sound plan to notify users of security incidents, challenges in network monitoring and user privacy; challenges with competing interests or whether professional have reflected on the ethical harms that can happen, challenges in data storage or how they can safely store and transmit sensitive data, and challenges in accountability or who is responsible for each aspect of the practice (Vallor & Rewak, 2019).
Conclusion
The ethical responsibility to safeguard others that cyber security professionals carry is becoming an increasingly significant weight, placing ethical considerations at the heart of cyber security activities in light of the increasing complexity and difficulty of protecting online data and system controls. Ethical dilemmas in cyber security affect the professionals, organizations, and users in terms of privacy, property, transparency and disclosure, cost, and the roles of duties of the professionals. Ethical challenges that professionals face include challenges in data storage, interests, breaches, threat responses, and accountability.
References
Vallor, S. & Rewak, W. J. (2019).An Introduction to Cybersecurity Ethics. https://www.scu.edu/media/ethics-center/technology-ethics/IntroToCybersecurityEthics.pdf
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