Daniel Watler Wednesday, March 22, 2017
Unit 4: Business Communicatons
P5 P6 M2
Criteria Brief
P5 – Explain the legal and ethical issues in relaton to the use of business informatonn
P6 – Explain the operatonal issues in relaton to the use of business informatonn
M2 – Analyse the legal, ethical and operatonal issues in relaton to the use of business informaton, using appropriate
examplesn
, Daniel Watler Wednesday, March 22, 2017
Unit 4: Business Communicatons
P5 P6 M2
In this assignment I will be explaining and analysing the legal, ethical and operaton issues with the use of business
informatonn This will all be implemented into the staf handbookn
Legal issues
There are 3 main legislatons regarding the use of informaton within a business, these are;
Data Protecton Act 1998
This legislaton illustrates the level of protecton a business should have protectng data, the use of said data and
the methods used to obtain itn All informaton held must;
o Be obtained fairly and lawfully essentally restrictng businesses from using malicious methods to obtain
informatonn
o Used only for the purpose illustrated when collectng said datan
o Have relevance regarding the purpose of holding this informatonn
o Data is not able to be kept for longer than necessaryn
o Protecton from transfer to an outside sourcen
Freedom of Informaton 2000
This legislatons gives individuals the ability to request informaton that a business may have on them and all
businesses are required to tell the person whether they hold said informatonn
o All requests must be dealt with within 20 working days (extension can be appealed)
o Companies can charge a base fee of £5 which can be increased to £20 maximumn
o Requests can be refused by the public authority if informaton gives a greater public interest served
when refusedn
Computer misuse 1990
This legislaton protects people from the use of malicious methods regarding computers in order to gain
informatonn The main points covered in this are;
o Unauthorised access to computer material
o Unauthorised access to computer systems with then intent to commit another ofence
o Unauthorised modifcaton to computer material
Legal Analysis
I will be using real life examples to best represent my analysis of the restrictons and limitatons legal issues can have on
a businessn The frst example I will be using shows a clear breach of the Data Protecton Act 1998 as seen below; [1]
The Information Commissioner’s Offe (ICO) has fnee the Bank of Sfotlane plf £75,000 for a serious breafh of the Data
Proteftion Aft 1998. The ICO foune that, over a four-year perioe, the bank repeateely sent faxes fontaining fustomers’ personal
eata to the wrong refipients, by transposing numbers when eialling fax numbers. The eata in the faxes influeee payslips, bank
statements ane mortgage applifations.
This is obviously a breach of the restricton ‘Protecton from transfer to an outside source’n Because of this breach as the
example states the bank was fned £75,000 which is a very minor amount in comparison to other similar fnesn The
reasoning behind this fne being considerably low was because the data which was distributed although confdental, did
not actually include any informaton which could have been used in a malicious way as decided by the ICOn Ways in
which a business could prevent this would be a protocol in place which required all outgoing informaton to be checked
vigorously before being distributedn The only cost for this would either be the sofware to check this or the manpower
needed to perform the actonn
The other example I will be using illustrates a breach of the Computer Misuse Act 1990 as seen below; [2]
Founeer member of international fyberfrime network D33Ds usee SQL injeftion attafks to obtain 300k usernames ane
passwores from Yahoo ane oferee them for sale. Also attafkee a website selling fomputer game foees that were obtainee for
resale. Investigation by the National Crime Agenfy. Jailee for two years after guilty pleas to three ofenfes uneer CMA 1990 s3
ane fraue.
Although this does not link exactly to the use of legal issues presented to a business by this act, due to the member
being part of a group called D33Ds which made a proft from said acton means they can be classifed as a businessn This
crime involved the stealing of confdental informaton which comes under the point ‘Unauthorised access to computer
material’n As a result of this the intruder was sentenced to 2 years in prison which shows the backlash a business could
Unit 4: Business Communicatons
P5 P6 M2
Criteria Brief
P5 – Explain the legal and ethical issues in relaton to the use of business informatonn
P6 – Explain the operatonal issues in relaton to the use of business informatonn
M2 – Analyse the legal, ethical and operatonal issues in relaton to the use of business informaton, using appropriate
examplesn
, Daniel Watler Wednesday, March 22, 2017
Unit 4: Business Communicatons
P5 P6 M2
In this assignment I will be explaining and analysing the legal, ethical and operaton issues with the use of business
informatonn This will all be implemented into the staf handbookn
Legal issues
There are 3 main legislatons regarding the use of informaton within a business, these are;
Data Protecton Act 1998
This legislaton illustrates the level of protecton a business should have protectng data, the use of said data and
the methods used to obtain itn All informaton held must;
o Be obtained fairly and lawfully essentally restrictng businesses from using malicious methods to obtain
informatonn
o Used only for the purpose illustrated when collectng said datan
o Have relevance regarding the purpose of holding this informatonn
o Data is not able to be kept for longer than necessaryn
o Protecton from transfer to an outside sourcen
Freedom of Informaton 2000
This legislatons gives individuals the ability to request informaton that a business may have on them and all
businesses are required to tell the person whether they hold said informatonn
o All requests must be dealt with within 20 working days (extension can be appealed)
o Companies can charge a base fee of £5 which can be increased to £20 maximumn
o Requests can be refused by the public authority if informaton gives a greater public interest served
when refusedn
Computer misuse 1990
This legislaton protects people from the use of malicious methods regarding computers in order to gain
informatonn The main points covered in this are;
o Unauthorised access to computer material
o Unauthorised access to computer systems with then intent to commit another ofence
o Unauthorised modifcaton to computer material
Legal Analysis
I will be using real life examples to best represent my analysis of the restrictons and limitatons legal issues can have on
a businessn The frst example I will be using shows a clear breach of the Data Protecton Act 1998 as seen below; [1]
The Information Commissioner’s Offe (ICO) has fnee the Bank of Sfotlane plf £75,000 for a serious breafh of the Data
Proteftion Aft 1998. The ICO foune that, over a four-year perioe, the bank repeateely sent faxes fontaining fustomers’ personal
eata to the wrong refipients, by transposing numbers when eialling fax numbers. The eata in the faxes influeee payslips, bank
statements ane mortgage applifations.
This is obviously a breach of the restricton ‘Protecton from transfer to an outside source’n Because of this breach as the
example states the bank was fned £75,000 which is a very minor amount in comparison to other similar fnesn The
reasoning behind this fne being considerably low was because the data which was distributed although confdental, did
not actually include any informaton which could have been used in a malicious way as decided by the ICOn Ways in
which a business could prevent this would be a protocol in place which required all outgoing informaton to be checked
vigorously before being distributedn The only cost for this would either be the sofware to check this or the manpower
needed to perform the actonn
The other example I will be using illustrates a breach of the Computer Misuse Act 1990 as seen below; [2]
Founeer member of international fyberfrime network D33Ds usee SQL injeftion attafks to obtain 300k usernames ane
passwores from Yahoo ane oferee them for sale. Also attafkee a website selling fomputer game foees that were obtainee for
resale. Investigation by the National Crime Agenfy. Jailee for two years after guilty pleas to three ofenfes uneer CMA 1990 s3
ane fraue.
Although this does not link exactly to the use of legal issues presented to a business by this act, due to the member
being part of a group called D33Ds which made a proft from said acton means they can be classifed as a businessn This
crime involved the stealing of confdental informaton which comes under the point ‘Unauthorised access to computer
material’n As a result of this the intruder was sentenced to 2 years in prison which shows the backlash a business could
