Ethical Hacking Case Study

The issue with tackling the ethical hacker scenario is that the event is almost entirely action based. There is no end to give meaning to the action and there is no finalized result or indication that it impacted happiness, which many ethical theories depend on. Namely consequentialism, utilitarianism and ethical egotism require an end result in one form or another. There is also no purpose in committing the hackings which makes applying moral theories that deal with motivation and intent, ethical egotism and aspects of virtue ethics, increasingly more difficult to do effectively. Therefore moral theories that apply almost exclusively to the action itself will be utilized in this argument.

As a counter-theory to consequentialism, deontological

The end goal for this development varies depending on the school of thought however it is often considered to be traits that make a ‘good person’. Another failing of virtue ethics is the subjectivity in what a ‘good person’ is defined as. In Emma’s circumstances her actions would be judged by how they reflect and develop her vices and virtues. This analysis will involve the ethical virtues rather than intellectual virtues due to the nature of the situation. Hacking into the system exemplifies vices such as inconsideration to established rules, deceitfulness and self-centeredness. On the other hand there are many virtues related to the difficulty of the task including creativity, dexterity and excellence which are exemplified by Emma’s ability to not only hack into the Canadian Security Intelligence but also eliminate any detectable trace of her actions. Much like deontology virtue ethics is concerned with the actions and their relations to pre established objectives which take the form of virtues in this ideology. This is because “the virtues do not make opposing demands or that one rule outranks another, or has a certain exception clause built into it”(Hursthouse, 2013). By this assumption Emma’s actions develop her character into one that is extremely skilled in practicality but is dishonest and selfish. The

To quote Fredrich Nietzche “God is dead, and we have killed him” doesn’t literally mean that an omnipotent entity was slain by humans but rather that the idea, faith or belief that once gave humans meaning and purpose no longer exists. In a way humanity has overcome their own facticities during the enlightenment period and morality becomes an individualized concept. Without an assigned meaning all that remains is moral skepticism. A subcategory of moral skepticism; Dogmatic skepticism claims “that nobody is ever justified in holding any substantive moral belief.” (Sinnott-Armstrong, 2015). If morality is to be found, it cannot be located in the physical world. Following moralities discovery, there is no absolute justification that one morality is greater than another. Therefore in applying moral skepticism to Emma’s situation we find that there is a large indifference to the actions. As there is no inherent moral compass the actions Emma commits are neutral. They aren’t done out of spite or pleasure, it is just something that is done. This conclusion falls into the ideology of skepticism with moral falsehood with claims that “every substantive moral belief is false.” (Sinnott-Armstrong, 2015). If morality exists at all, then it cannot be verified to be true by any means. This gives way to nihilism, an absolute void of meaning and morality. Much like skepticism nihilism views