week 5 weekly I.T. questions.

Explain the ethical issues surrounding information technology.

Ethical issues surrounding I.T. such as copyright infringement and intellectual property rights are consuming the e-business world.  Other forms of ethical issues in the I.T. world include fair use doctrine, pirated software, and counterfeited software. In this instance, intellectual property is the collection of rights that protect creative and intellectual effort. Secondly, copyright is the exclusive right to do, or omit to do, certain acts with intangible property such as a song, video game and some types of proprietary documents. Alternatively, fair use doctrine states that in certain situations, it is legal to use copyrighted material. Pirated software is the unauthorized use, duplication, distribution, or sale of copyrighted software. Lastly counterfeited software refers to software that is manufactured to look like the real thing and sold as such.

 Describe a situation involving technology that is ethical but illegal.

A situation which is ethical but illegal is using information on customers that is owned by the business to generate extra revenue, it seems like a good business strategy, using information on customers that a business already owns to generate additional revenue but this methodology is in fact illegal under the fair credit reporting act and under the privacy act 1988.  

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

One computer user policy includes an ethical computer use policy, I this instance it contains general principles to guide computer use behaviour. For example, the ethical computer use policy might explicitly state that users should refrain from playing computer games during working hours. This policy ensures the users know how to behave at work and the organization has a published standard by which to deal with user infractions.

What are the 5 main technology security risks?

The five main security risks in business are (a) human error, (b) natural disasters, (c) technical failures, (d) deliberate acts, and lastly, (e) viruses. The first element, human error, is farley self explanatory, human error occurs when incorrect data or information is loaded onto the organizations computer system, this incorrect information may be detrimental to other figures and can completely mess up an organizations results or statistics when trying to find specific data. Examples include typos, misreading material or placing a piece of information where it wasn’t supposed to go. Secondly, natural disasters can be highly detrimental to technology, natural disasters can completely destroy businesses buildings in which case the company may have to temporarily relocate, examples include floods, earthquakes and terrorist attacks. Thirdly, technical failures are where the Internet system has crashed or is down for some reason i.e. software bugs, or the company’s intranet system is mucking up, these can all be major security risks because both time and resources are need to reestablish them. Fourthly, deliberate acts such as   sabotage and white-collar crime are also security risks, in this instance sabotage could be covert in which someone who is unhappy within the business is trying to ruin the productivity of that company. Lastly viruses are software written with malicious intent to cause or annoyance and/or damage; there are many types of viruses, some of the more common ones include; worms, Trojan-horses and backdoor programs.

Outline one way to reduce each risk.

·         Firewall

·         Strong passwords, i.e. letters and numbers.

·         Changing of passwords more often, i.e. every 60 days

·         Social engineering

·         Content filtering

·         Encryption

·        Implementing a disaster recovery plan

·        System audits to track down malicious activity

·        Strong penalties for misuse of data

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

Disaster recovery is the process of regaining access to computer systems and data after a disaster has taken place. All firms should have a comprehensive disaster recovery plan in place. The plan should incorporate the following elements:

• Communications plan                                            
• Alternative sites- hot or warm sites
• All firms must have Business continuity plans that outline exactly what happens in a disaster.
• Location of backup data, note this data should be kept in order 
• Well-documented, tested, and established procedures in the chance of a disaster.