University Cyber Security Report: Ethics and Challenges of IoT Systems

This report addresses the ethical and security challenges associated with the Internet of Things (IoT). It begins by introducing IoT as an emerging technology designed to enhance daily life through interconnected devices that collect and exchange data. The report highlights the importance of addressing ethical concerns, particularly regarding privacy and confidentiality, as IoT devices share data, making it difficult to monitor access. The report includes an annotated bibliography of academic papers that explore various aspects of IoT, including ethical, social, and political issues, and the impact on privacy. The policy paper section identifies specific ethical issues such as lack of data privacy, difficulties in author identification, potential for life-threatening attacks, data theft, and identification problems. It proposes the social contract theory as a suitable framework for addressing these issues, emphasizing the importance of establishing well-organized contracts and ethical considerations to manage data security and privacy. The report stresses the need for proactive measures to mitigate risks and ensure the responsible implementation of IoT technologies.

Running head: CYBER SECURITY
Ethics in digital age- IoT
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1CYBER SECURITY
Part 1: Emerging digital technology- IoT
With the growing needs of the population it has been observed that the emerging digital
technologies have gained huge importance. With the help of this technology it becomes easy to
manage the performance. IoT is one such technology that is used for the purpose of improving
the condition of the human daily lives. IoT is the technology that is used for the purpose of
designing an environment in which interconnected devices are embedded for the purpose of
collecting and exchanging the data 1. This ensures that the collected data are evaluated efficiently
for the purpose of having better performance. This helps in interacting and exchanging data
without any human interventions. However it is important to understand the impacts that are
created with the use of this technology. Intent of things tends to provide a better connectivity
however there are certain challenges that are faced from the ethical perspective that is with the
privacy aspect and the confidentiality. IoT allows the connected devices to share data and thus it
becomes very difficult to monitor which party is accessing the data2. The privacy aspect becomes
a very crucial aspect and thus it is important to ensure that the companies are provided with
proper security support so that the data can be managed securely within the system.
1 Popescul, Daniela, and Mircea Georgescu. "Internet of Things–some ethical issues." The USV Annals of
Economics and Public Administration 13.2 (18) (2014): 208-214.
2 Wang, Pan, et al. "The Internet of Things: a security point of view." Internet Research (2016).

2CYBER SECURITY
Part 2: Annotated bibliography
Chan, Meng Shen, et al. "Overview of IoT: Ethical, Social and Political Issues." Open
International Journal of Informatics (OIJI) (2018): 10-17.
The paper intends at describing the way IoT helps in improving the performance by
offering better connectivity. However there are certain considerations that are needed to be taken
care while using the technology. Before using an emerging technology it becomes essential to
ensure that the technology is socially, ethically and politically sustainable so that it does not
hampers the performance. The paper is focused on identifying the key challenges that arises with
the use of IoT in daily life. The privacy offered towards the data gets hampered with the use of
this technology and thus before using IoT it is important to ensure that an effective methodology
is used for overcoming the issues.
Ebersold, Kyle, and Richard Glass. "THE INTERNET OF THINGS: A CAUSE FOR
ETHICAL CONCERN." Issues in Information Systems 17.4 (2016).
Internet of things is considered as a global network infrastructure that helps in linking the
devices together for establishing a better communications. The key ethical issues that are faced
with the use of IoT is regarding to the privacy factors, the moral agency, issues faced with
environmental behaviors and the problems that are faced with managing the information. Hence
it is important to ensure that the use of emerging technologies does not hamper the ethics. Thus
there is a need to identify the ethical issues that arises with the use of IoT technology so that it
becomes easy to enhance the performance.

3CYBER SECURITY
Righetti, Francesca, Carlo Vallati, and Giuseppe Anastasi. "IoT Applications in Smart
Cities: a Perspective into Social and Ethical issues." 2018 IEEE International Conference
on Smart Computing (SMARTCOMP). IEEE, 2018.
The paper has focused on identifying the key ethical issues that arises with the use of IoT
technologies. With the help of IoT it has been observed that the environment performance can be
enhanced as this offers an advanced way of managing the data and ensures that data are
organized efficiently. The paper has focused on describing the key applications that are offered
with the use of IoT applications. IoT allows wide range of devices to collect data and to transmit
accordingly and thus the chances of facing security challenges increases with the use of these
technologies. The data shared through the devices lacks proper security and this turns to be one
of the most important ethical aspect.
AboBakr, Ahmed, and Marianne A. Azer. "IoT ethics challenges and legal issues." 2017
12th International Conference on Computer Engineering and Systems (ICCES). IEEE, 2017.
IoT systems have emerged into different technologies that include, RFID, NGC, 4G and
3G. The wide application of IoT has gained huge importance in the market and thus the number
of challenges has also increased. The paper is intended for the purpose if discussing the ethical
and legal challenges that are needed to be considered while implementing the technology in
healthcare sector. The key benefits that are offered with the use of IoT technology is that it offers
an effective communication process between the machines and ensures that all data are shared
effectively. The ethical issues that arises with the use of IoT in healthcare industry includes
access to information, lacks privacy of information, and the information integrity also gets
hampered.

4CYBER SECURITY
Part 3: Policy paper
Internet of things is one of the most emerging technologies that is used with the aim of
providing better connectivity towards the people. The main reason behind using IoT is to create a
system that will be capable of storing the data that are needed for managing the activities carried
out by human beings3. On the other hand it saves the money, time and the way information are
organized and managed within the system. The automation for monitoring the tasks gets
enhanced with the use of proper technology. However there are wide ranges of challenges that
are faced while using this technology. Thus it is important to ensure that the ethical issues so that
the performance. This part of the paper will focus on identifying the ethical issues that arises
with the use of this technology. It becomes essential identify the challenges at the early stage so
that the issues can be mitigated successfully4. There is a need to consider the ethical aspects
effectively so that it becomes easy to organize the different components properly.
There are several ethical issues that are faced while implementing IoT technology to a
certain field.
Lack of data privacy: the data stored within the IoT devices are vulnerable to wide range
of people. This hampers the performance and the data stored within the system. The data stored
are vulnerable to attackers and thus it becomes difficult to offer proper security towards the data.
3 Ebersold, Kyle, and Richard Glass. "THE INTERNET OF THINGS: A CAUSE FOR ETHICAL
CONCERN." Issues in Information Systems 17.4 (2016).
4 Alaba, Fadele Ayotunde, et al. "Internet of Things security: A survey." Journal of Network and Computer
Applications 88 (2017): 10-28.

5CYBER SECURITY
Author identification is difficult: there are wide number of system connected with the use
of IoT technology and thus it becomes difficult to determine the way data are managed and
shared. Thus the author of the data shared can’t be identified effectively. Thus it turns to be
difficult to manage the stored data.
People life attack: Virus attacks towards a computer system have the potential to cause
data loss and thus it becomes important to manage the data. Once the hacker gains access
towards the IoT system they will try to breach the data or will try to hamper the individual. This
will further lead to threatening the life of the individual5. Thus in order to avoid such activities it
becomes essential to include proper data protection that will ensure that the stored data are
maintained with proper confidentiality.
Data theft: Excessive availability of data can lead to get exposed towards the attackers.
The data shared on IoT devices are wide range in number and hence this makes the data
vulnerable towards the attackers. Thus in order to protect the data it is important to implement
proper security aspects. This is one of the biggest ethical aspects that arise with the data shared
over the IoT.
Issues with identification: There are wide ranges of issues that arise with the use of IoT
things. One such ethical concern that arises is the identification issues. The devices that shares
5AboBakr, Ahmed, and Marianne A. Azer. "IoT ethics challenges and legal issues." 2017 12th International
Conference on Computer Engineering and Systems (ICCES). IEEE, 2017.

6CYBER SECURITY
data with the IoT should have certain login data and unique identification number6. However
with a huge set of devices it becomes difficult to identify the devices.
Private life gets hampered: the data shared over the devices connected through IoT can
be accessed by huge number of users. Thus the data becomes vulnerable towards the attackers.
Hence it becomes difficult to manage the private life and the data shared within the system7.
Thus there is a need to implement proper data integrity within the system for protecting the data.
In order to overcome the ethical issues it is important to integrate the emerging
technology with suitable ethical framework so that it becomes easy to manage the data security
and privacy. The suitable framework for organizing the ethical issues that arises with the use of
IoT is considered to be the social contract theory8. The use of social contract theory will help in
identifying the political obligation that is dependent on the contract. Thus before describing the
contract it becomes essential to manage the social responsibility while engaging any device for
developing the process. Social contract helps in managing the networks and ensures that the
devices are connected socially. Benefit of using social contract theory is that it helps in offering a
well-organized contract before using any particular service. The theory helps in managing the
data and ensures that the data are organized properly for the purpose of engaging the
6 Chan, Meng Shen, et al. "Overview of IoT: Ethical, Social and Political Issues." Open International Journal of
Informatics (OIJI) (2018): 10-17.
7 Conti, Mauro, et al. "Internet of Things security and forensics: Challenges and opportunities." (2018): 544-546.
8 Righetti, Francesca, Carlo Vallati, and Giuseppe Anastasi. "IoT Applications in Smart Cities: a Perspective into
Social and Ethical issues." 2018 IEEE International Conference on Smart Computing (SMARTCOMP). IEEE, 2018.

7CYBER SECURITY
performance. The use of proper ethical considerations it will become easy to manage the
performance.

8CYBER SECURITY
References
AboBakr, Ahmed, and Marianne A. Azer. "IoT ethics challenges and legal issues." 2017 12th
International Conference on Computer Engineering and Systems (ICCES). IEEE, 2017.
Alaba, Fadele Ayotunde, et al. "Internet of Things security: A survey." Journal of Network and
Computer Applications 88 (2017): 10-28.
Chan, Meng Shen, et al. "Overview of IoT: Ethical, Social and Political Issues." Open
International Journal of Informatics (OIJI) (2018): 10-17.
Conti, Mauro, et al. "Internet of Things security and forensics: Challenges and opportunities."
(2018): 544-546.
Ebersold, Kyle, and Richard Glass. "THE INTERNET OF THINGS: A CAUSE FOR ETHICAL
CONCERN." Issues in Information Systems 17.4 (2016).
Kumar, J. Sathish, and Dhiren R. Patel. "A survey on internet of things: Security and privacy
issues." International Journal of Computer Applications 90.11 (2014).
Popescul, Daniela, and Mircea Georgescu. "Internet of Things–some ethical issues." The USV
Annals of Economics and Public Administration 13.2 (18) (2014): 208-214.
Righetti, Francesca, Carlo Vallati, and Giuseppe Anastasi. "IoT Applications in Smart Cities: a
Perspective into Social and Ethical issues." 2018 IEEE International Conference on Smart
Computing (SMARTCOMP). IEEE, 2018.9
Wang, Pan, et al. "The Internet of Things: a security point of view." Internet Research (2016).
9