CREDS 2013 - International Workshop on Cyber-security Research Ethics Dialog & Strategy

Commercial and public computer security researchers and policymakers are tackling novel ethical challenges that exert a strong influence for online trust dynamics. These challenges are not exceptional, but increasingly the norm: (i) to understand and develop effective defenses to significant Internet threats, researchers infiltrate malicious botnets; (ii) to understand Internet fraud (phishing) studies require that users are unaware they are being observed in order to ascertain typical behaviors; and (iii) to perform experiments measuring Internet usage and network characteristics that require access to sensitive network traffic. These research activities are prerequisite for evidence-based policymaking that impacts us individually and collectively, such as infrastructure security, network neutrality, free market competition, spectrum application and broadband deployment, and intellectual property rights. Therefore, in the wake of failures to resolve these mounting tensions, ethics has re-emerged as a crucial ordering force. For this reason, ethics underpins the debate among CS researchers, oversight entities, industrial organizations, the government and end users about what research activity is or is not acceptable.
This workshop is anchored around the theme of "ethics-by-design," and aims to:
1) Educate participants about underlying ethics principles and applications;
2) Discuss ethical frameworks and how they are applied across the various stakeholders and respective communities who are involved;
3) Impart recommendations about how ethical frameworks can be used to inform policymakers in evaluating the ethical underpinning of critical policy decisions;
4) Explore cybersecurity research ethics techniques, tools, standards and practices so researchers can apply ethical principles within their research methodologies; and
5) Discuss specific case vignettes and explore the ethical implications of common research acts and omissions.