The Morality of Cybersecurity: What Do We Owe Each Other As Security Pros?

By Matt Warner, Co-Founder, CTO
Cybersecurity is an area where the lines of ethics and morality become blurry. Research can shed light on vulnerabilities and risks, but publicizing the findings often leads to attacker exploitation and public relations backlash. Discussing cyber incidents is crucial for learning from past mistakes, but discussing it in the wrong way can be exploitative, akin to ambulance chasing. The crux of this discussion is to explore the question: How can we maintain morality and ethics while navigating our lives and careers as cybersecurity professionals? This will be a high-level discussion on the intersection of morality, empathy and innovation in the cybersecurity world. We will begin with a discussion on why collaboration and community is important, and the impact of cybersecurity professionals coming together to face real-world incidents in the past, such as the SolarWinds attack and Log4j. We’ll discuss successes and failures during these high-stress incidents from a community perspective. Leadership must invest in cybersecurity to protect their organization, but IT and security professionals have an obligation to put in their best efforts, too. Next, we will discuss what those obligations are and to whom, and how empathy and compassion play a role in the lives of cybersecurity professionals. Attendees will leave with tangible ways that they can give back to the community at large and talking points to use with their peers that will spark further conversation and awareness about how morality and cybersecurity collide.
BIO
Matt is Chief Technology Officer (CTO) and co-founder of Blumira. Matt brings nearly two decades of IT and cybersecurity experience to his leadership position, and a genuine passion for cybersecurity education. He is passionate about helping SMBs who are often most vulnerable to cyberattacks, helping them improve their security maturity with thoughtful and intentional changes. In 2022, the Globee Cybersecurity Global Excellence Awards program recognized Matthew as CTO of the Year for his leadership and innovative problem-solving, as well as his credible research on Log4j vulnerabilities and notable contributions to Blumira’s 2022 State of Threat Detection and Response Report. Matthew’s dedication to Blumira is as long-lasting as the hedgehog tattoo etched on his leg.