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Cybersecurity Issues in Crowdsourcing Engineering Initiatives

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Conference

2021 Fall ASEE Middle Atlantic Section Meeting

Location

Virtually Hosted by the section

Publication Date

November 12, 2021

Start Date

November 12, 2021

End Date

November 13, 2021

Page Count

13

DOI

10.18260/1-2--38427

Permanent URL

https://strategy.asee.org/38427

Download Count

415

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Paper Authors

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Donna M. Schaeffer Marymount University

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Dr. Donna M. Schaeffer is a Professor in the School of Technology and Innovation at Marymount University.

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Jillian Drake Marymount University

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Ms. Jillian Drake is a Doctorial Student in the School of Technology and Innovation at Marymount University.

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Abstract

Cybersecurity Issues in Crowdsourcing Engineering Initiatives

As crowdsourced engineering-related projects become more wide-spread and global, we must pay attention to cybersecurity issues that can emerge. Sharing data is fundamental to crowdsourcing, and that requires attention to protecting privacy. This issue is exacerbated if participants use common technologies, e.g., cell phones, that are used for other purposes and may be subject to cybersecurity vulnerabilities.

Cybersecurity issues can arise during recruitment, by which social media is a prevalent tool, to projects in that bad actors can solicit input into malicious and false projects.

Furthermore, the results of crowdsourced engineering projects may provide foundations for policy and legislation; thus, integrity must be maintained and bad actors prevented from manipulating data and/or results.

Governance of crowdsourced projects must include attention to cybersecurity issues, regardless of their scope and scale. The exploitation of cybersecurity vulnerabilities are often result from ethical lapses. Just as engineers respect engineering professional ethics, so must citizens who participate in gathering data.

In this paper, we will share a taxonomy that identifies how professional engineering ethics are represented and brought to life in 21st century crowdsourced engineering projects, which include commercial initiatives from Anheuser-Busch, Nokia, and FedEx as well as research initiatives like the Digital Humanitarian Network, the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team, and KeralaRescue.

Schaeffer, D. M., & Drake, J. (2021, November), Cybersecurity Issues in Crowdsourcing Engineering Initiatives Paper presented at 2021 Fall ASEE Middle Atlantic Section Meeting, Virtually Hosted by the section. 10.18260/1-2--38427

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