First broad and systematic horizon scanning campaign and study to detect societal and ethical dilemmas and emerging issues spanning over cybersecurity solutions

Abstract

Cybersecurity and cybercrime cannot exist without each other. They are not contraries, but rather two opposite poles of the same idea. Although it may seem that it is a rather black and white kind of relationship, the measures aimed at protecting innocent people raise a myriad of ethical dilemmas. This paper presents the results of a horizon scanning study aimed at identifying the ethical and human rights dilemmas that may arise in relation to cybersecurity and cybercrime; in the paper, the identified “weak signals” have been presented, that is, the ideas or concerns which are less obvious, not widely researched or present in the media. The cybersecurity-related ethical issues arise as part of the relations between the affected people and other entities; thus, in this paper, the identified dilemmas have been organized according to the nature of the relations.