Ethical Issues for IT Security Professionals-Samples for Students

Question: Discuss about the Ethical Issues in ICT. Answer: It professionals, especially those offering security services, have access to private and confidential information about other people and companies and their network and applications. This access gives such individuals the power that can either be used for benefit of others or abused for personal gains or malice. Unfortunately, the field lacks standardized requirements for the specialists. Usually, IT experts are taught technical skills that lack consideration on how their abilities can be used for wrong reasons (Shinder, 2005). Furthermore, it is not mandatory for IT security professionals to join the few existing associations focused on addressing ethical issues in ICT. Regrettably, many IT security professionals lack understanding of the ethical issues concerning their careers. On the contrary, the experts make many decisions in their line of duty that result in critical ethical concerns. IT firms and security experts have raised concerns about the security of company and individual data in computer environments in the wake of increased hacking and virus attacks that have led to huge loss of money and destruction of brand reputation. In effect, firms have become very afraid of the trend and business owners are willing to do anything to secure their information assets. As such, security experts can play on customers fear to exploit them by making them spend more money on security tools than they ought to pay (Ahmed, 2015). Marking up software got for a customer when passing the cost through can become unethical when the IT specialist puts an extremely and an unjustifiable price on a product. Further, accepting kickbacks from manufacturers might be unethical since an IT security professional can convince clients to purchase low-quality solutions for them to receive commissions. Business transactions in all fields should not overstep on crucial values such as transparency and honesty. As such, pricing ethics should establish a balance between an IT professional and the customer. Unfortunately, few authorities control pricing practices since. Further, pricing legality and ethics are not regulated and they flow freely between right and wrong. However, IT professionals and providers should practice some pricing measures that can be considered ethical. One first strategy that IT security experts should avoid to achieve an ethical price model includes price fixing involving service providers only without consumer representatives. Instead, price fixing agreement should bring together the product manufacturer, IT specialist, and consumers to set a justifiable price for a good or service. For instance, IT professionals can agree on a fixed hourly rate together with clients. Competition between the experts can only drive the prices down but not higher than the agreed one. At this point, associations should regulate competitors (IT security professionals) to prevent them from collaborating to increase base prices to manipulate fickle clients. Another loophole that IT experts should avoid is favoritism based on rigging a bid. This case involves promising clients that they will get a reliable solution based on their requirements, yet the professional knows that the product will be purchased from a manufacturer based on commissions and kickbacks offered and not the capabilities of that solution. This unethical behavior hurts the client and the best producer may never sell their products since they are not offering good commissions. Professionals should overcome this unethical challenge by offering information on all existing solutions (manufacturers) and giving the client the freedom to select their choice. IT security professionals should ensure that they source product from the manufacturer selected by the consumer without favoritism caused by favoritism, kickbacks, or shareholding power. This process should be transparent and honest to ensure that all parties benefit in and to avoid conflicts the future. Additionally, professionals should avoid price discrimination that involves selling solutions at different prices based on the consumer (Merler, 2017). As mentioned earlier, customers might be willing to spend more than expected out of fear of an attack on their confidential data. In effect, a professional can end up quoting only highly-priced solutions even in cases where the problem can be solved efficiently using a cheaper product or service. Moreover, the IT personnel might overprice a cheap solution to a customer willing to pay for it. Price discrimination is an unethical behavior that professionals should avoid to prevent future backlash. Finally, a client can place a higher value than the cost of developing a product. In effect, a manufacturer or an IT professional might find it justifiable to accept the exaggerated offer and matching it with non-existing value or the solution. For instance, highly-skilled experts and IT products with a limited supply can end up being demanded by more consumers at higher prices than what the vendor was looking for. In such cases, manufacturers and professional should not ask for exorbitant prices that extremely exceed the cost of producing that item. Ultimately, IT manufacturers and personnel should avoid offering services and products at unethical prices. It is always advisable to set pricing by considering all stakeholders, including the customer. ICT is not about quick business. The field benefits more from healthy relationships between suppliers and consumers. As such, stakeholders should ensure they adopt sustainable practices to avoid brand and other business disasters in the future. References Ahmed, M. (2015). Ethical issues for IT security professionals. LinkedIn. Retrieved from https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/ethical-issues-security-professionals-mostafa-ahmed Merler, S. (2017). Big data and first-degree price discrimination. Bruegel. Retrieved from https://bruegel.org/2017/02/big-data-and-first-degree-price-discrimination/ Shinder, D. (2005). Ethical issues for IT security professionals. Computerworld. Retrieved from https://www.computerworld.com/article/2557944/security0/ethical-issues-for-it-security-professionals.html Top of Form Bottom of Form