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Security and Ethical Challenges


Ethical and Societal Dimensions. The vital role of information technologies and systems in society raises serious ethical and societal issues in terms of their impact on employment, individuality, working conditions, privacy, health, and computer crime, as illustrated in Figure 13.2. Employment issues include the loss of jobs—a result of computerization and automation of work—versus the jobs created to supply and support new information technologies and the business applications they make possible. The impact on working conditions involves the issues of computer monitoring of employees and the quality of the working conditions of the jobs that use information technologies heavily. The effect of IT on individuality addresses the issues of the depersonalization, regimentation, and inflexibility of some computerized business systems. Employees’ heavy use of computer workstations for long periods raises issues about and may cause work related health disorders. The use of IT to access or collect private information without authorization, as well as for computer profiling, computer matching, computer monitoring, and computer libel and censorship, raises serious privacy issues. Computer crime issues surround activities such as hacking, computer viruses and worms, cyber theft, unauthorized use at work, software piracy, and piracy of intellectual property. Managers, business professionals, and IS specialists can help solve the problems of improper use of IT by assuming their ethical responsibilities for the ergonomic design, beneficial use, and enlightened management of information technologies in our society.

Ethical Responsibility in Business. Business and IT activities involve many ethical considerations. Basic principles of technology and business ethics can serve as guidelines for business professionals when dealing with ethical business issues that may arise in the widespread use of information technology in business and society. Examples include theories of corporate social responsibility, which outline the ethical responsibility of management and employees to a company’s stockholders, stakeholders, and society, and the four principles of technology ethics summarized in Figure 13.4.

Security Management. One of the most important responsibilities of the management of a company is to ensure the security and quality of its IT-enabled business activities. Security management tools and policies can ensure the accuracy, integrity, and safety of the information systems and resources of a company and thus minimize errors, fraud, and security losses in its business activities. Examples mentioned in the chapter include the use of encryption of confidential business data, firewalls, e-mail monitoring, antivirus software, security codes, backup files, security monitors, biometric security measures, computer failure controls, fault-tolerant systems, disaster recovery measures, information system controls, and security audits of business systems.











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