In this activity, we’ll reflect on your role within the cybersecurity field. Ask yourself: How do you contribute to ‘the good’ as Aristotle would define it? Are there ways you can enhance your contribution or align it more closely with principles of virtue and societal well-being?
Here are some fictive examples to help guide your reflection:
1. Cybersecurity Analyst: Protecting Information
As a cybersecurity analyst, you contribute to the ‘good’ by protecting valuable information assets. Your diligence and competence ensure the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of systems and data. To align your work more closely with Aristotle’s principles, you could consider cultivating virtues such as diligence (by continually updating your skills) and integrity (by treating all data you handle with respect).
2. Ethical Hacker: Ensuring Robust Security
As an ethical hacker, you contribute to the ‘good’ by identifying vulnerabilities before they can be exploited by malicious actors. This proactive defense protects users and businesses alike. To increase your contribution, you might focus on cultivating honesty (by always reporting your findings transparently) and courage (by taking on challenging tasks to strengthen security).
3. Cybersecurity Leader: Fostering a Virtuous Culture
As a cybersecurity leader, your contribution to the ‘good’ isn’t just through your individual actions, but also by fostering an ethical culture within your team. This involves promoting virtues such as trustworthiness, collaboration, and professional growth. To enhance this, you could strive for fairness (in rewarding and recognizing efforts) and wisdom (in guiding your team towards ethical decisions).
Activity Template for Teachers
As a teacher, guide your students in reflecting on their roles using the following questions:
- Understanding Your Role: What is your role within the cybersecurity field? How does your work contribute to the ‘good’ in a societal sense?
- Identifying Your Virtues: What virtues do you exercise in your role? How do these virtues aid in your contribution to the ‘good’?
- Enhancing Your Contribution: Are there ways you can enhance your contribution to the ‘good’? This could be by developing new virtues, refining existing ones, or better aligning your work with principles of societal well-being.
- Action Steps: What specific steps can you take to enhance your contribution? These could be personal (like improving a skill) or broader (like proposing a new policy in your team).
The aim of this exercise is to help students see their work in the broader context of societal good, and understand how virtue ethics can be embodied and enhanced in their roles.