10/24/10 Information Systems for Managers

Unit 5 : Ethical, Social, Moral

& Security Issues wrt I.S.

Information Systems for Managers

MBA(Tech), Trim VIII (2008-09)
Prepared by : Kedar Subramanian 1
Ethical, Social & Political Issues

10/24/10 Information Systems for Managers (ISM)

 Ethical, social, and political issues are closely linked.
 Introduction of new technology has a ripple effect on
them.
 Ethical decisions draw on the concepts of:
 Responsibility: Accepting the potential costs, duties,
and obligations of one's decisions accountability
 Accountability: A feature of systems and social
institutions, accountability means that mechanisms
are in place to determine who took responsible
action and who is responsible for an action
 Liability: Refers to the existence of laws that permit
individuals to recover the damages done to them
by other actors, systems, or organizations
 Due process: Requires that laws are known and
understood by all, and that individuals can appeal 2
to higher authorities to ensure laws were properly
applied.
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Ethical, Social & Political Issues
Privacy Issue

10/24/10 Information Systems for Managers (ISM)

 Privacy is the claim of individuals to be left alone, free
from surveillance or interference from other
individuals or organizations, including the state.
 Information technology and systems threaten
individual claims to privacy by making the invasion
of privacy cheap, profitable, and effective.
 The Internet poses new challenges to the protection of
individual privacy because information can easily be
monitored, captured, and stored as it passes
through its network of computer systems.
 Companies can record a user's on-line activities, such
as what files were accessed or which Web sites were
visited.
 Web sites can learn the identity of their visitors if the 4
visitors voluntarily register at the site or they can
capture information about visitors without their
Privacy Issue..

10/24/10 Information Systems for Managers (ISM)

 Most Internet businesses do little to protect their
customers' privacy other than publish privacy
statements.
 Some e-commerce sites add opt-out selection boxes
to their privacy statement, which, when accepted by
a visitor, permit the collection of personal
information.
 Privacy advocates promote the wider use of an opt-in
model of informed consent in which businesses are
prohibited from collecting information unless
allowed by the consumer
 Spyware is small applications that can secretly install
itself on an Internet user's computer by
piggybacking on larger applications. 5
 Once installed, the spyware calls out to Web sites to
send banner ads and other unsolicited material to
Patents & Copyrights wrt Digital
Products

10/24/10 Information Systems for Managers (ISM)

 Digital media and software can be so easily copied,
altered, or transmitted, that it is difficult to protect
with existing intellectual property safeguards.
 Illegal copying of software and music and video files is
rampant worldwide.
 While protecting against copying of software program
code, copyright protection can't prevent another
person from using the underlying ideas behind a
piece of software and developing software that
follows the same concepts.
 Very little software has received patent protection,
which does protect the underlying ideas behind
software, because the software must pass very
stringent criteria concerning the originality and 6
novelty of those ideas.
 The Internet makes it even easier to copy intellectual
Cyber Crime and Security Controls

10/24/10 Information Systems for Managers (ISM)

 Computer crime and computer abuse (the commission
of acts involving a computer that may not be illegal
but are considered unethical) are primarily
committed by people inside the organization.
 Various tools and technologies used to help protect
against or monitor intrusion include authentication
tools, firewalls, intrusion detection systems, and
antivirus and encryption software.
 Access control consists of all the policies and
procedures a company uses to prevent improper
access to systems by unauthorized insiders and
outsiders.
 Access control software is designed to allow only
authorized persons to use systems or to access data 7
using some method for authentication.
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The Problem of Spam Mail
Security Tools

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 New authentication technologies include:
 Token: A physical device similar to an identification card
that is designed to prove the identity of a single user.
 Smart card: A device about the size of a credit card that
contains a chip formatted with access permission and
other data.
 Biometric authentication: Compares a person's unique
characteristics, such as fingerprints, face, or retinal
image, against a stored set profile.
 A firewall is a combination of hardware and software
that controls the flow of incoming and outgoing
network traffic and prevents unauthorized
communication into and out of the network.
 The firewall identifies names, Internet Protocol (IP)
addresses, applications, and other characteristics of 9
incoming traffic.
Security Tools…

10/24/10 Information Systems for Managers (ISM)

 Intrusion detection systems feature full-time
monitoring tools placed at the most vulnerable
points of corporate networks to detect and deter
intruders continually.
 Antivirus software is designed to check computer
systems and drives for the presence of computer
viruses. However, to remain effective, the antivirus
software must be continually updated.
 Digital signatures and digital certificates help with
authentication.
 A digital signature is a digital code attached to an
electronically transmitted message that is used to
verify the origin and contents of a message.
 Digital certificates are data files used to establish the 10
identity of users and electronic assets for protection
of online transactions.
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