ETHICAL AND COMPUTER SECURITY ISSUES

Ethics

Ethics means “What is wrong and What is Right”. It is a set of moral

principles that rule the behavior of individuals who use computers. An
individual gains knowledge to follow the right behavior, using morals that
are also known as ethics. Morals refer to the generally accepted
standards of right and wrong in the society.
In other words An Ethical issue is a problem or issue that requires a
person or organization to choose between alternatives that must be
evaluated as right (ethical) or wrong (unethical). These issues must be
addressed and resolved to have a positive influence in society.
Ethics

Similarly, in cyber-world, there are certain standards or The

commandments of computer ethics (Common Computer Ethics) such as:

Do not use pirated software

Do not use unauthorized user accounts
Do not steal others’ passwords
Do not hack
Do not spy on another person’s personal data
Do not use technology to steal personal information
Do not use the computer to harm other people’s data
Do not spread misinformation using computer technology
While computers for communication, always respectful with fellow
members
Before developing software, think about the social impact it can of that
software
Computer Ethics
Computer ethics deals with the procedures, values and
practices that govern the process of consuming computer
technology and its related disciplines without damaging or
violating the moral values and beliefs of any individual,
organization or entity.

In other words
Computer ethics is a concept in ethics that addresses the
ethical issues and constraints that arise from the use of
computers, and how they can be mitigated or prevented.
In summary
Computer systems in general are vulnerable. They play an important role
in the daily lives of individuals and businesses. Special care must be
taken explicitly in order to ensure that the valuable data do not get into
wrong hands. Hence, the data need to be protected.

A cyber-crime is a crime which involves computer and network. This is

becoming a growing threat to society and is caused by criminals or
irresponsible action of individuals who are exploiting the widespread use
of Internet. It presents a major challenge to the ethical use of
information technologies. Cyber-crime also poses threats to the integrity,
safety and survival of most business systems.
Cybercrime is an intellectual, white-collar crime. Those who commit such
crimes generally manipulate the computer system in an intelligent
manner.
For example – illegal money transfer via internet.
Now Lets discuss some unethical computing practices;

Cyberbullying:
When people bully other people by the use of electronic communication (
like the web, telephone, etc). it’s referred to as cyberbullying.
Cyberbullying has been done by friends, classmates, relatives, any other
unknown persons. Sending harmful emails to a person creates fake
websites to make fun of or to make harm a person by distributing the
same fake information about a person posting and distributing fake
images of a person. These are some common ways of cyberbullying.

In most cyberbullying cases, they do not reveal their identities. Due to

cyberbullying, some bullied persons are affected emotionally or mentally.
Even if those are fake information, the bullied person may become
depressed or it may affect their day-to-day life. In the case of the
students or kids, it may affect their study or they may lose self-esteem.
How to protect yourself from
cyberbullying:

Not to respond to cyberbullying.

Never open e-mails received from unknown
senders.
Keep your password secret.
Be careful, when you are posting something on
a social site.
Phishing:
An internet hacking activity used to steal user data. In
this activity, an email is sent to the user which
misleads him/her to believe that it is from a trusted
organization.
After sending the email, the attacker asks the user to
visit their website, and on their website, they will ask
for the personal information of the user like password,
credit card information, etc. So, this is how the
attacker steals the personal information of the user.
How to protect yourself from phishing:

Never open a link, attachment, etc in an email that is

sent by some unknown person.
Never share your personal information in an email that
is asked by an unknown person.
Always on the firewall of the computer system.
Always check your bank statements regularly to ensure
that no unauthorized transactions are made. If
unauthorized transactions are made in your account,
then immediately report this issue to your bank.
Hacking:
It is an unethical activity in which a highly skilled technical person(or
commonly known as a hacker) enters another person’s computer without
the permission of the user and steals important data/project/applications
from the computer or sometimes destroys the information from the system.

How to protect yourself from hacking:

Never connect your system to free wifi or a free network.
Always use strong passwords consisting of letters, numerals, and special
characters.
Before installing any application in your system, always check permission
and authenticity.
Always keep your operating system updated.
Always use preventive software applications, like anti-virus, anti-malware,
etc,
Spamming:
It is an unethical activity in which bulk unwanted e-mail is set to you
from a strange or unknown source. Sometimes, due to bulk emails,
your mail server gets full and mail bombing activity happens. Spam
mail is generally used to deliver viruses, worms, trojan horses,
malware, spyware, etc. to attack the user.

How to protect yourself from spam:

To prevent spam mail, install filtering or blocking software.
In your mailbox, if you find suspicious mail, then immediately delete
that mail(without opening).
Always keep your software updated.
Never open the link that is sent by an unknown person.
Plagiarism:
Plagiarism is stealing or copying someone else’s intellectual work
(can be an idea, literary work or academic work, etc.) and
representing it as your own work without giving credit to the creator
or without citing the source of information.

How to protect yourself from plagiarism:

While writing, always writes in your own words.
Always use a plagiarism checker before the update.
If you are taking someone else’s work, then always give the credit to
the original author in an in-text citation.
Plagiarism:
Plagiarism is stealing or copying someone else’s intellectual work
(can be an idea, literary work or academic work, etc.) and
representing it as your own work without giving credit to the creator
or without citing the source of information.

How to protect yourself from plagiarism:

While writing, always writes in your own words.
Always use a plagiarism checker before the update.
If you are taking someone else’s work, then always give the credit to
the original author in an in-text citation.
Internet Security
Internet security is a branch of computer security specifically associated
with the utilization of the internet, involving browser security and network
security.

Its objective is to determine measures against attacks over the web.

Insufficient internet security can be dangerous. It can cause many
dangerous situations, like starting from the computer system getting
infected with viruses and worms to the collapse of an e-commerce business.
Different methods have been devised to protect the transfer of data over
the internet such as information privacy and staying alert against cyber
attacks.

The internet is an insecure channel for exchanging information because it

features a high risk of fraud or phishing.
Information Privacy:

Information privacy is the privacy or protection of personal information and

refers to the personal data stored on a computer. It is an important aspect
of information sharing.

Information privacy is also known as data privacy or online privacy. Some

Internet privacy involves the right of personal privacy and deals with the
storing and displaying of personal information on the internet.
In any exchange of personal information over the internet, there is always a
risk involved with the safety of personal information. Internet privacy may
be a cause for concern especially when online purchases, visiting social
networking sites, participating in online games or attending forums.

The risk involved in internet privacy is sometimes dangerous. In the process

of data transfer over the internet, if a password is revealed, a victim’s
identity may be deceitfully used
Some important terms to keep in your mind

Spyware: An application that obtains data without the user’s consent.

Malware: An application used to illegally harm online and offline computer
users
Virus: It is a small program or software which is embedded with a
legitimate program and designed to harm your system.
Worms: It is a self-replicating program that spread across networks due to
the poor security of the infected computers.
Trojan horse: Trojan horse is a program that allows the hackers to gain
remote access to a target system.
General steps to protect our system from risks

To minimize internet privacy violation risks, the following measures need

to be taken:

Always use preventive software applications, like anti-virus, anti-malware,

etc,

Avoid exposing personal data on websites with low-security levels.

Avoid shopping from unreliable websites

Always use strong passwords consisting of letters, numerals, and special

characters.

Always keep your operating system updated.

Always on the firewall.

Lets discus about the Principles of Information
Security

NOTE
We can not discus about Internet security without see a bit
of Information Security

What is Information Security?

Information Security (infosec) is a set of information

technology practices, methodologies, and tools that allow
security professionals to protect the organization’s data
assets from information security risks.
An information security program aims to prevent
unauthorized users from accessing, modifying, manipulating,
or destroying enterprise information, thus maintaining its
“CIA triad”- Confidentiality, Integrity, and Availability.
Principles of Information Security
There are three basic principles of information security:
Confidentiality
Integrity
Availability
(CIA)
Confidentiality
This first principle is meant to prevent the unauthorized access or
disclosure of enterprise information, while assuring that only authorized
users have access. Confidentiality is said to be compromised when
someone who doesn’t have the proper authorization is able to access the
organization’s data and then damage, compromise, or delete it.

Integrity
Data integrity is about maintaining the accuracy, trustworthiness,
consistency, and reliability of data. This means that the data should not
be compromised or incorrectly modified (either inadvertently or
maliciously) by someone without the proper authority.

In other words
This means that any changes to the information by an unauthorized user
are impossible (or at least detected), and changes by authorized users
are tracked.
Availability
Availability means that information is easily accessible to
authorized users whenever they need it, thus minimizing
interruptions or downtime.
In other words
This principle ensures that the information is fully accessible at any
time whenever authorized users need it. This means that all the
systems used to store, process, and secure all data must be
functioning correctly at all times.

NOTE
The three principles inform and affect one another, and determine
the strength and efficacy of an organization’s infosec program.
END