When I read The Code I’m Still Ashamed Of by Bill Sourour it did not take me long to understand what he had done wrong. I was even more disheartened when it dawned on me that the project came to him in the form it did. Far too many people in the client’s company completely disregarded any form of ethical fortitude by approving it. Approving a project that blatantly lied to a section of the public that was searching for a possible reprieve to what was ailing them goes against any form of ethical action. As a last line of ethical defense, care ethics would have had Sourour demand changes…
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Cyberwar and North Korea
In their article Trump Inherits a Secret Cyberwar Against North Korean Missiles David Sanger and William Broad discuss the ongoing action of the United States to derail North Korea’s development of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) that is capable of delivering a nuclear payload. Since it’s inception, North Korea and it’s ruling family, the Kim family, have believed that having ICBMs with nuclear capability is the ultimate show of the country’s military might, a sort of “look, we have them too and we can use them” display. With the history and culture of violence the country embraces, many view this nuclear capability as a very real problem, the United States…
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Google Street View, Opt in Only
As Siva Vaidhyanathan detailed in “The Googlization of Everything”, Google Street View is an application that allows its users to view a 360-degree, street level view of roads in a large number of cities and communities. The service was first launched in a few cities across the United States but quickly ballooned to thousands and then to numerous countries. The entire process of obtaining the images for the views is done via driving cars with special cameras around the cities, continuously taking pictures until the specified routes are captured. All of this is done without the consent and many times knowledge of the cities and communities. In this case analysis…
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Intelligification and Regulations
Technological advances of today are proceeding at an astounding pace. The world around us is becoming more interactive in our lives than ever before. All those sci-fi movies I watched as a kid are partially coming to fruition. One such instance is that smart gym equipment can persuade people to exercise just a bit more (Verbeek). My watch often tells me that “A quick 15-minute run will finish off your exercise goal for the day”. As we march into the future, embracing our technological advances, it’s important to step back and take a look at the full state of everything. Are the benefits of these technologies hindering us more than…
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Trolls, Free Speech, and Money
In 2017, the House Intelligence Committee learned that Russian agents purchased Facebook and Twitters ads seemingly trying to influence the 2016 presidential election. Representative Jackie Spier was quoted as saying “We basically have the brightest minds of our tech community here and Russia was able to weaponize your platforms to divide us, to dupe us and to discredit democracy.” To me this constitutes a form of cyber warfare, attacking the political system by means of disinformation. I have spoken with some that believe it is not. All of the ones I’ve personally spoken to that believe the posts Mrs. Spier is speaking about were either jokes, or just didn’t see…
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Cybersecurity Responsibilities and Regulations
Cybersecurity is the responsibility of everyone. Unfortunately a lot of people either do not understand their role or maliciously ignore it. I wrote an essay a few weeks back proposing mandatory training for everyone to have or use an Internet connection. This would help mitigate a number of cyber crimes. On the IT “department” side of everything, professionals should have additional, continuous training to ensure we are able to combat the ever evolving attack vectors. While industry standardized policies and procedures are a good start, the ability to easily change them is also necessary. Along with training and flexibility we have to run continual testing on our defenses. The results…
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Interactions with Victims
With over half of the world’s 8 billion people having some form of internet access, a wide audience is available. Someone in the United States can converse with someone from New Zealand without ever stepping foot outside of their home. This is what the internet and many cyber technologies were designed to accomplish. Unfortunately, this ease of communication also lends itself to some rather nefarious deeds. Being able to harass and bully an individual in days past was typically limited by geography. Without the means to move beyond their local area, aggressors went after those around them. The internet and other cyber technologies removed that boundary. Another boundary that was…
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Cybercrime, Workplace Deviance, and Criminal Justice
While many of the offenses that fall under the definition of cybercrime have come into existence through technological advances, a fair number of traditionally white-collar crimes can also be committed through the use of technology. Fraud is a crime that’s been in existence since recorded history began. With the advances of the internet and computers, fraudsters now have the ability to defraud their victims without leaving the comfort of their pajamas and couches. Distance is also no longer an issue. Defrauding someone from anywhere in the world is just as easy as sending an email. Bullying has also taken advantage of the technology. Prior to the internet, bullying could typically…
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Engineers and Network Safety
Imagine sitting in your dining room eating your dinner and the lights go out. You quickly realize it’s not just the lights, it’s all the power in your home. Now imagine thousands of miles away, someone is sitting in front of a computer, typing and clicking away, dropping power to thousands of other homes around you. It’s happened. In 2015 a cyberattack took down power to over 230,000 homes in Ukraine. It is considered the first successful cyberattack against an electrical grid. The power stations around you are controlled by computers that are connected to each other, and the main power station in your area, which is also controlled by…
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Computers’ impact on world safety
There is a lot that can be said in regards to the impact that computers have had on the world. I won’t claim to be a world safety expert, but I am aware of several aspects of safety that computers have both improved and been a detriment to. Computers have made a number of things more safe: medical treatments are often managed by computers, computers house databases of information pertaining to criminals that facilitate their capture, and computers also provide life saving information in the event of injury or illness. Ever had an X-ray? More likely than not, that X-ray machine was controlled by a computer. The technician that walked…