Weekly Questions week 5

Weekly Questions (Week Five)

Chapter Four:  Ethics and Security

1.Explain the ethical issues surrounding information technology.

Ethics (Image 1)

The development of information technology has raised many ethical issues including the protection of intellectual property, copyright, and the use, distribution and sales of pirated and counterfeit software. Security in relation to the protection of private Company and consumer information is also a major ethical issue that may arise.

For Further information, visit:

http://www.colorado.edu/geography/gcraft/notes/ethics/ethics_f.html

Textbook: Baltzan, Philips, Lynch & Blakey, Business Driven Information Systems (Australian/New Zealand edition) pg 169

2.      Describe a situation involving technology that is ethical but illegal.

When an individual purchases a program or software and makes a copy of it in the situation that the original is stolen or damaged. The act of copying the software is a violation of copyright and intellectual property laws and is deemed illegal. However, it can be considered ethical as the individual is making a copy incase the original is damaged, where it is for personal use, and  not intended to be sold or distributed.

Textbook: Baltzan, Philips, Lynch & Blakey, Business Driven Information Systems (Australian/New Zealand edition) pg 165

3.      Describe and explain one of the computer use policies that a company might employee

‘Email privacy policy’ is a computer use policy implemented by companies. This policy provides details on the use of company messaging systems (emailing). These policies need to be clear to employees and state the activities that are permissible and how the company system can be used for work or private purposes. The policy must also specify that when an email is sent, it will be in the providers computer (company), and under the Privacy Act 1988,companies can store emails sent by employees.     

 For further information, visit:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-mail_privacy

 Textbook: Baltzan, Philips, Lynch & Blakey, Business Driven Information Systems (Australian/New Zealand edition) pg 173

4.      What are the 5 main technology security risks?

Natural disasters (Image 2)

The Five main technology security risks include:

·         Human error: weak passwords, unaware of business procedures

·         Natural disasters: floods, fires, earthquakes, tsunamis

·         Management failure: lack-of or ineffective security systems, procedures and training

·         Deliberate acts: employees or cyber criminals stealing and corrupting data

·         Technical failures: system crashes and failures

5.      Outline one way to reduce each risk.

Human error (Image 3)

·         Human error can be reduced by implementing policies which require employees to regularly change passwords and have passwords with many letters, numbers and symbols. Auditors can also review employees who have misused information and companies can impose strong penalties.    

·         The Impact of natural disasters can be reduced by implementing ‘disaster recovery plans’ which are followed by the business after a disaster

·         Management failure can be reduced by implementing security systems and procedures which are understood by employees, and training employees on how to use the systems correctly

·         Deliberate acts can be reduced by having effective security systems. This includes firewalls, encryptions and authentication and authorisation procedures. 

·         Technical failures can be reduced by continuously reviewing and evaluating information systems and identify problems which need to be fixed before the failure occurs.

For further information, visit:
http://www.continuitycentral.com/feature0524.htm (Natural disaster plan)

Textbook: Baltzan, Philips, Lynch & Blakey, Business Driven Information Systems (Australian/New Zealand edition) pg 186,187, 216

6.      What is a disaster recovery plan, what strategies might a firm employee?

A disaster recovery plan details the procedures and processes a business must undertake to be able to recover information or access information systems due to natural disasters or ‘man-made’ situations in order to minimise the implications a business may experience. These implications may include the loss of consumer information, business records, and ‘downtime’ (business’ inability to continue operations leading to loss of consumers, revenue, and reputation). The disaster recovery plan should include the locations of where back-up data is kept and detail ‘hot and cold sites’ where employees can go to after a disaster and the a location the business can resume operations. 

Disaster Recovery Plan Timeline (Image 4)

For further information, visit: 

http://www.mrose.com.au/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disaster_recovery  

Textbook: Baltzan, Philips, Lynch & Blakey, Business Driven Information Systems (Australian/New Zealand edition) pg 216






 Image Reference:
Image 1 - http://blog.b92.net/text/15361/Business-Ethics-and-Us/ 
Image2 - http://www.armageddononline.org/natural-disasters.html 
Image3 - http://www.perfectserve.com/practice/overview.html

Image 4 - http://www.mrose.com.au/