The Ethical Issues Of IT Security Professionals

Running head: THE ETHICAL ISSUES OF IT SECURITY SPECIALISTS 1

The Ethical Issues of IT Security Professionals

Name of the Student

Name of the Institution

THE ETHICAL ISSUES OF IT SECURITY SPECIALISTS 2

The Ethical Issues of IT Security Professionals

Attorneys, physicians and other professionals whose job task impact other person's lives

normally get, as a section of their official preparation, courses that deal with ethical issues to

their experts. Information Security staff get access to confidential information and knowledge

regarding companies and persons’ systems and networks that offer them a grand deal of power

(Tavani, 2004). The power may be abused either unintentionally or deliberately. However, there

exist no standardized preparation or training needs for hanging one’s shingle as an IT security

specialist or in-house security consultant. Organizations and associations for information

technology pros are starting to deal with the ethical part of the job, but once more there is no

necessity for IT security professionals to belong to those institutions. This paper seeks to talk

about the Ethical issues of IT security professionals

Why are ethical guidelines necessary?

The training and learning of IT specialists, as well as security professionals, normally

concentrates on technological skills and knowledge (Northcutt & Madden, 2004). People in IT

training learn the manner to carry out tasks although with less consideration on the manner those

capabilities can be abused. Actually, a lot of IT specialists approach their job with a point of

view of a hacker that ‘whatever people can accomplish, they are entitled to perform them. In

reality, a lot of IT experts do not even realize that their work entails ethical issues. However, they

make choices on an everyday basis that bring up ethical questions.

What are the ethical issues?

A lot of the ethical matters that challenge IT specialists entail privacy. This brings out the

question: does the availability of information justify its application? Governments gather

THE ETHICAL ISSUES OF IT SECURITY SPECIALISTS 3

massive volumes of the data on organizations and persons and employ it for a variety of reasons

such as precise collection of tax and national safety. Corporations and companies do the same for

purposes of business to boost business (Northcutt & Madden, 2004). All those IT roles in the

corporate and government organizations are held by IT experts who have access to all the

collected data. Moreover, technological advancements in both software and hardware

considerably altered scope of what may be collected and processed. Massive volumes of

confidential data may be kept and retrieved quickly and effortlessly by any IT specialists.

Seemingly different sources of information may be cross-referenced to pick up fresh meanings

once one set of information is viewed in the context of a different one (Tavani, 2004). The

question is, is it ethically right for the IT personnel to access the amassed information? This

further raises many questions of whether the institution's capability to gather and process

information on the exponentially growing scale should be restricted in any manner. Further, does

the reality that data may be architected for a specific objective imply it ought to be, even if by

doing so personal confidentiality rights are possibly breached? If data designed for one

application is diverted to a different procedure that is socially redeeming and would lead to a

greater good or could lead to monetary benefit, does that alleviate the ethical dilemma?

The matter of privacy is a very sensitive one which brings up the issue of the expense and

effort that managers should apply in considering the question of data privacy and access. This is

a matter with both external and internal implications (Northcutt & Madden, 2004). All

companies and organizations gather individual data on workers, information if not appropriately

protected can lead to considerable negative inferences for persons. Data such as payment and

background information and individual identification data like account identifiers and social

security number have to be kept and accessed by approved staff. Systems that trace this

THE ETHICAL ISSUES OF IT SECURITY SPECIALISTS 4

information may be secured; however, at some point information should depart the systems and

be employed. Operational policies and procedures can deal with the appropriate managing of

that information. However, if they are not enforced or followed, there is barely any point in

holding them. Routinely organizations share information with one another merging databases

having all sorts of identifiers (Northcutt & Madden, 2004). This brings up the question of the

extent of responsibility people should anticipate from stewards of this information. Given that

there is no ideal solution, then what is the tipping point past which attempts to make sure

information is may be accessed just by those who are approved to access?

The slippery slope of the issue

A common idea within any ethics debate is the “slippery slope” (Robert, 2005). This

regards to the ease with which an individual can move from performing something that does not

really appear ethical like scanning the emails of an employee simply for fun to performing

matters that are progressively unethical like making little amendments in their e-mail messages

or redirecting messages to the erroneous addressee. Looking at the issue of privacy matter

above, it is simple to justify every of the actions explained. However, it is as well simple to see

how every of those activities might ‘morph’ into much little acceptable actions. For instance, the

data one has acquired from reading an e-mail belonging to someone else could be employed to

disgrace that individual to gain a political gain in the corporation, to cause him or her to be fired

or yet for blackmail (Robert, 2005). The concept of the slippery slope as well goes past

employing one’s information technology skills. If it is proper to look through other workers

emails, is it as well proper to check through their desk drawers once they have left work? Is it

proper to check their purse or briefcase?

THE ETHICAL ISSUES OF IT SECURITY SPECIALISTS 5

In conclusion, in general, organizations contain internal strategies and policies for

handling security violations but not a lot of them yet have particular policies and strategies to

deal with the subject of ethical issues of information technology security specialist and IT

managers. Managers who do not take measures to secure the information system for which they

are accountable, workers who cavalierly employ data to which they must hold access, and system

users that discover shortcuts around instituted safety procedures and protocols are handled in a

similar manner as any person who does not meet the basic job needs, anything from demotion or

transfer to job termination. IT and security specialist who do offer services for numerous firms

have even extra ethical matters to cope with. Then there is the money issue. The propagation of

network hacks, attacks, and other risks to their information technology infrastructure have made

many firms to be extremely afraid. This is because it is very easy for an IT specialist to take

advantage of that fear and persuade the company to use far many funds that they truly need.

Therefore, the ethical dilemmas of IT specialists are still a problem in many companies and

measures should be devised to manage the situation.

THE ETHICAL ISSUES OF IT SECURITY SPECIALISTS 6

References

Tavani, H. (2004). Ethics and Technology: Ethical Issues in an Age of Information and

Communications Technology. New York: Wiley Publishers.

Northcutt, S and Madden, C. (2004). IT Ethics Handbook: Right and Wrong for IT Professionals.

New York: Elsevier Publishers.

Robert, S. (2005). Contemporary Issues in Ethics and Information Technology. New York: Idea

Group Publishers.

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