MAKING IN ORGANISATIONAL IT SECURITY
By George Mizen
M
, THE ETHICAL DIMENSIONS OF IT SECUIRTY:
When executives talk about IT security, most do not even consider the ethical dimensions
subject. However, these two subjects are inherently linked so understanding that link is ke
the success of your company and avoiding obvious pitfalls. Confidentiality is one of the mo
important ethical issues and yet the most difficult to control.
For example, BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) polices allow employees to bring their own
personal smart-devices to work and connect to the company’s network. If a disgruntled
employee were to log onto the network with their personal device, they could release priva
company information that was not intended for public release.
Another ethical dimension of IT security are the consumer-facing ethics when it comes to m
certain decisions. Continuing on from the previous example, the private information that th
disgruntled employee released was the company’s customer details. The executives are n
faced with a conundrum: should they alert their customers to the leak or should they wait?
Ethical dimensions like these are difficult to address as there is no global ethical standard
authority to regulate these issues. While many nations have taken the steps needed to ad
cybersecurity, there is still much more work that needs to be done.