Unit V COMPUTER ETHICS AND CYBER SECURITY GUIDELINES OF ETHICS Generally, the following guidelines should be observed by computer users: . Honesty: Users should be truthful while using the internet. . Confidentiality: Users should not share any important information with unauthorized people.
. Respect: Each user should respect the privacy of other users. . Responsibility: Each user should take ownership and responsibility for their actions Ethics is a set of moral principles that govern the behavior of an individual in a society, and Computer ethics is set of moral principles that regulate the use of computers by users.
. ETHICAL ISSUES 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. Some of the common ethical issues are listed below: • Cyber crime • Software Piracy • Hacking • Use of computers to commit fraud Chapter • Sabotage in the form of viruses • Making false claims using computers CYBER CRIME 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. Examples of some Computer crimes and their functions are listed below in Table . : Table .
Computer Crime Crime Function Malware Malicious programs that can perform a variety of functions including monitoring user’s computer activity without their permission. Harvesting A person or program collects login and password information from a legitimate user to illegally gain acces s to others’ account(s). Spam Distribute unwanted e-mail to a large number ofinternet users. SOFTWARE PIRACY Software Piracy is “unauthorized copying of software”.
Figure . shows a diagrammatical representation of software piracy. SOFTWARE PIRACY Duplicating and selling copyrighted programs D o w n l o a d i n g software illegally through network Figure . - Diagrammatic representation of Software piracy An entirely different approach to software piracy is called Shareware .
Shareware publishers encourage users