Report about Ethics, Privacy and Information Security
This report has been written by Name of Student of Class of Student of Name of College on Date of submission
Introduction Information system and information technology always seemed Greek to me, and I always considered them as a source of wasting time and money. I questioned people about the usefulness of information system and information technology in our daily lives, but did not get a satisfactory answer. A couple of years back, one of my cousins who excelled in the field of information technology and made a successful career there, tried to convince me about the benefits of information technology. However, still the information technology did not impress me, and I kept on moving in my own world. Recently, the software “Vertical Learning Curve” taught me about enterprise information systems and information technology, and convinced of the usefulness of information system and information technology.
Use of information technology in the daily life includes smart phones, traffic lights, personal computers, laptops, I-Pad, GPS, servers, internet, and much more. People these days are so dependent on technology that they cannot imagine life without technology. Technology has become so much into our lives that the average American adult spends 8-12 hours per day on some technology gadget (L’Atelier BNP Paribas, 2014). Technology became part of personal life when its use was added to the business, and created a new world that none could even imagine earlier. Businesses grew at a rapid pace due to the availability of supporting technology to communicate with anyone around the world. This reports covers the relationship of ethics, privacy and information security with the information systems through Vertical Learning Center modules (Vertical Learning Curve). It will also cover the importance of technology in the business in order to remain update about the world business and how future changes in technology can affect the business system.
Ethics Ethics are a system of moral principles and a branch of philosophy that defines the good and bad for individuals and society (BBC, 2014). Ethics is the basic requirement of human life and decides our future course of action. Without ethics, all our actions would be random and aimless. There would be no way to work towards the aimed goals because no prioritization among the limitless numbers of goals will be possible. In today’s world, even by following the ethical standard, we may not have the greater probability of success of our goals. Only with a rational ethical standard is taken as a guideline, we are able to organize our goals and in a position to achieve them. Any flaw in our ethics will reduce our ability to be successful in our endeavors (Rowlands, 2001).” It clearly indicates that ethics is part of our daily life and we cannot take our day to day decisions in personal life, and at work, without following the ethics. For example; when Powers lost a customer of glitch in a computer, he was angry and walked into Catherine office. Powers was upset because they did not ship an order on time due to the tracking error (Powers) during the previous month. Orders must meet the deadline otherwise you lose customers one by one. The role of management is very important at such occasion and despite an error in tracking system, order must be shipped and delivered in time. Management should be able to handle the orders no matter what; may be through a manual system as the customer always comes first. There are no excuses for missing the deadline and deadlines must be met under all circumstances. Second example; when Catherine calls for an IT meeting for the results of all the interviews conducted by myself, Walter and Eric (Mod 3_IT Office p.) (Mod 3_IT Office p.). She makes a decision of how she wants to restructure the entire IS/IT System with each department. Making such a decision is called ethics. She needed the data and the results to make the final decision. The employees who conducted the interviews sent her the data. Third example: Catherine fires Rohan (Ethics) as Mariella had broken her laptop and wanted Rohan to fix it. Rohan could not fix it and lied to Catherine that Mariella wanted a new laptop and did not want him to fix the broken one. Rohan lied and was caught by Catherine, therefore, Catherine fired him for lying. Rohan was trying to be nice to Mariella by giving a newer laptop instead of fixing the broken one. Catherine has some moral principles that forced her to fire Rohan. Although, it was not a big lie but Catherine hates lies no matter how small or big they are. She based her decision to fire the Rohan on her moral principles.
Privacy Privacy is the state or condition of being free from being observed or disturbed by other people. Privacy is one the most important topics and will always be, because not everyone likes public attention, especially people invading the personal space without their permission. Organizations have an obligation to protect the personal information of employees and customers. In case of, a violation of privacy of a customer or employee, the concerned director and management is held responsible under data protection and privacy legislation and may be penalized. In America, privacy is given great importance. When there is a mixture of privacy and business, it creates a different level of privacy and the lawsuit gets involved as privacy in business must be taken care of at any cost. First example; when Eric steals the note from under the Catherine’s desk while installing the power cables (Finance), he invades the business privacy of Catherine. Reading someone’s note without asking permission of that individual is another example of invading someone’s privacy. Eric could’ve been punished by Catherine if knew about missing of her note. Privacy is primarily the clothes on top of a naked body, and stealing some someone’s privacy is equivalent to ripping off his clothes. Second example; all departments in Central possess information about customer that are confidential, and no one wants other companies or hackers to access that information (Marketing). Other companies can use the information to make a better quote and steal the company’s customers. Hackers steal the information about the bank accounts and credit card in order to benefit from account of someone else. Privacy is thus very important to the business world. Business of the company greatly depends on keeping the employees and customer’s information secret. When there is a small leakage of information, it is not easy to detect the same sometimes in the years, and it causes huge losses and greater damage to the enterprise. Thus, information security is important for the businesses to be successful, and it has to play the vital role of keeping the information secret. Information Technology department must maintain the privacy and be located in a secure area (IT). In the proposed upgrade, Information Technology department should improve the privacy of both customer and the company. Due to advancement in technology, there may be many loopholes available to be invaded by the hackers. Every day increase in the date storage, information systems must plan enhanced security with every passing day. Third example; 90% work of Human Resources Management is dependent on Information technology as they store different data from workmen's compensation, wage and salary systems. Although HRM is a very secure and strict department of the entire company, yet they need a better technology for the wage and salary and time card for employees. On account of use of information technology, HRM is the most important department of the company.
Information Security
“Information is the practice of defending information from unauthorized access, use, disclosure, disruption, modification, perusal, inspection, recording or destruction, whether in storage, processing or transit, and against the denial of service to authorized users or the provision of service to unauthorized users, including those measures necessary to detect, document, and counter such threats” (The University of Nevada, 2012). The main goal of the company is to ensure the provision of best information security to preserve the business data and personal data of employees and customers. Security and privacy go hand in hand and does not accept errors and omission with regards to the security of information and privacy. The consequences of any leakage of information and invasion of privacy are always costly and distracting. Customers have the right to security of their personal information and the right to their privacy. Customers do not feel comfortable and secure if company there are doing business with, leaks out their personal data and some unauthorized person invades their privacy. Therefore, it is important for the public sector organizations to have very tough policies on secrecy of date of customers, employees and their own business data. Information security is gaining momentum as more companies are outsourcing their offshore operations. First example; Eric has a concern while he is talking to Linda (Room) about “Go To my PC” because he is worried about the security of the program. The specific program does not belong the central and some other company owns the program that could be a big security hazard. Every department in Central is dependent on information system security departments for provision of cyber security to the company, and there is no room for error. One little error can cause the company a huge loss if someone steals any information from the database and the person involved in the security of the system can lose his job. Information Technology security is always on their toes as there are many hackers and viruses trying to attack the company’s security system. Some departments are so dependent on information systems that their 80 to 95% of business uses information technology. Second example; accounting department handles all their accounts by programs and data, provided by information technology. Technology has made their job easier and much faster than before. Accounting department handles all the accounts that makes them vulnerable to greater security risks, therefore, Information Technology department must provide the highest level of cyber security to the department. No laxity on account of information security with accounts department is acceptable as the leakage in information may cost the company a big financial loss. Third example; Human Resources Management department has all the data related to the employees including timecard, social security, wage, salaries and workmen’s compensation. The security of subject data held with human resource management department is of prime importance.
Conclusion In today’s world, information technology plays a very important and deciding role in the personal life of people and the businesses of the corporation. Ethics, privacy and information security, are the tools to ensure personal safety and maximum profits to the corporation. Information technology is important in manufacturing industry, armed forces operations, and daily businesses of the corporations and daily life of an ordinary citizen. Information technology has become an integral part of our life, both at home and work. Effective counter to these threats to information technology and subsequent threats to the personal privacy must be ensured. We need to develop our thinking on the fast past as of information technology and should be able to use the technology to the best advantages of mankind.
References
4, I. I. (n.d.). VLC_Mod 4_informal IT Meeting.bbc. (2014). BBC.Departments, M. 3. (n.d.). VLC_Module 3 departments.Ethics, M. R. (n.d.). Snack Room Discussion on Ethics in module 5.Finance, M. a. (n.d.). VLC_accounting and finance.HRM, I. w. (n.d.). VLC_ Interview with Anne HRM.IT, M. 4. (n.d.). VLC_Mod 4_Adopting and Adapting to IT .L’Atelier BNP Paribas. (2014).Marketing, M. 3. (n.d.). VLC_Mod 3_Sales and Marketing.Mod 3_IT Office, p. (n.d.). V-Learning Course.Mod 3_IT Office, p. (n.d.). V-Learning Course.Powers, C. a. (n.d.). Mod_3_ Catherine and Powers.Room, M. 5. (n.d.). VLC_Module 5_ Executive Conf. Room.Rowlands, J. L. (2001). Importance of Philosophy.University of Nevada, L. V. (2012). Office of Information Technology.Vertical Learning Curve. (n.d.).
