An Ethical Study of Teaching Malware Writing, Hacking Skills and System Infiltration

Nowadays, the number of courses teaching hacking skills is increasing and has encountered a very warm reception. In some countries, teaching hacking and writing malware has been considered as part of course credits for students of the fields of computer and information technology. According to some, since teaching hacking and malware writing may lead people to criminal activities and people may misuse this expertise, it is in detriment to the society and based on this, it is unethical; but some others agree with this instruction and believe that in order to confront cyber criminals, we must be able to think like them. According to this group, security experts need to learn hacking skills and malware writing in order to better understand the weakness in the security of systems and to deal with malware and therefore, they consider it ethical. Thus, considering the increase in the number of malware and hacking courses being held, and also the importance of the security of computers, this article delves into the explanation, analysis, critique and study of the ethical arguments for and against malware writing and hacking skills education and some measures for the ethical use of these skills will also be presented.