Ethical Hacking Website Case Study

This assignment presents a case study of a website that offered hacking services without proper consent or ethical considerations. The site leaked customer information, leading to embarrassment and humiliation. The analysis explores the ethical dilemmas involved, focusing on utilitarianism, deontological ethics, virtue ethics, and social contract theory. It proposes corrective actions, emphasizing the importance of informed consent, professional contracts, and ethical conduct in hacking activities.

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Ethical Analysis
Report
9/7/2017

Ethical Analysis
Table of Contents
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................3
Utilitarianism Theory..................................................................................................................................3
Deontology Theory......................................................................................................................................3
Virtue Theory..............................................................................................................................................4
Contract Theory...........................................................................................................................................5
Recommendations and Conclusion..............................................................................................................5
References...................................................................................................................................................7
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Ethical Analysis
Introduction
Hacker-for-hire website released the names of the buyers and their respective addresses online.
The website provided the hacking services in Sweden and Australia. It asked for the name and
address of the buyer along with the reason for the hack job to be done. The buyers believed that
the information that they provided would be kept a secret; however, the details of 60 Australians
were revealed to the public (Tung, 2015).
The report covers the ethical analysis of the activity using different ethical theories, such as,
Utilitarianism, Deontology, Virtue Theory and Contract Theory of Ethics.
Utilitarianism Theory
As per the principles that are defined under this theory of Ethics, an act is evaluated as ethically
correct or incorrect on the basis of the utility of the same. Utility in this case refers to the
pleasure that is gained as a consequence of the action and the absence of the evil or suffering
caused by the action.
In the case study, hacker-for-hire is a website that provides illegal services to the customers. The
execution of such hacking services may cause pleasure to the buyer in terms of understanding the
details of the accounts or systems that are hacked. However, it will result in suffering for the
party that is hacked. The private and sensitive information of the hacked account or system will
be exposed in front of the unauthorized entities (Bentham, 2005).
The line of business that the web site deals in is not legal in itself. However, releasing the details
of its customers to the public can also not be justified. It will lead to the embarrassment for the
customers and will also cause a lot of humiliation.
It can be seen that the utility of the action is causing more suffering as compared to the pleasure.
Therefore, the activity has been termed as ethically incorrect and unjustified as per the
Utilitarianism Theory of Ethics (Gamlund, 2012).
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Ethical Analysis
Deontology Theory
The Deontology Theory of Ethics is the ethical theory that says that the activities and actions that
are performed must adhere to the set of rules and guidelines that are defined around them.
As per the Australian laws, it is not legal to carry out hacking activities that are not carried out by
the professional entities under the defined contracts. The hackers and the buyers of such services
can face legal obligations as a result. Also, it has been stated that the organizations must protect
the private and sensitive details of its customers under the Intellectual Property rights and
policies. The regulations suggest that the privacy of the information must be maintained at all
times (O’Neill, 2010).
In this case, hacker-for-hire is a web site that was carrying out illegal activities. The activity of
contracting the site for carrying out hacking services was not correct on the ethical grounds as
per this theory. However, to reveal the details of the buyers in public is not an ethical
countermeasure that should have been adopted. The website was already carrying out an
unethical activity and added to the same by not adhering to the Intellectual Property rights
(Equip, 2017).
There is a clear violation of Australian laws and Intellectual Property rights in this case. It is due
to this reason that the act is termed as ethically incorrect on the basis of the principle of the
Deontology Theory of Ethics.
Virtue Theory
As per the Virtue Theory of Ethics, an activity can be termed as ethically correct is it has positive
virtues associated with it.
The virtues that were associated with the buyers to contact the web site to hack a particular
system or an application were completely selfish in nature. The activity was based upon the
suspicion, jealously and the motive to cause harm to the party that will be hacked (Hursthouse,
2000).
In the activity that was carried out by the web site which included the release of the buyer details
in the public, the virtues that were associated were the selfish benefits to gain publicity at the
cost of the embarrassment of the others (Bowden, 2005).
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Ethical Analysis
In both the cases, the virtues that have been associated with the activities are not positive. They
are selfish and negative in nature and therefore, the activity that has been described in the case
study has been termed as ethically incorrect as per the Virtue Theory of Ethics (Grcic, 2013).
Contract Theory
Contract theory of Ethics is based upon the principles that state that the actions that are carried
out shall be in agreement with the social norms and guidelines and must adhere to the same.
In the society that we live in, it is necessary to maintain peace and harmony. The same shall be
done without causing damage to the rest of the entities that are present in the society. The actions
that are executed must also abide by the same.
The activities that the buyers were carrying out by contracting the web site for hacking a
particular system or application were not legal. It was also not in accordance with the social
norms and guidelines. It would have resulted in the disturbance of social harmony or peace. For
instance, one of the buyers had requested the hacking of the phone of her husband as she was
suspicious that her husband was cheating on her. The correct method as per the social norms was
to directly discuss the matter with the husband rather than involving a third party in between
(Browne, 2012).
The web site was not doing the correct activities by providing such hacking services to its
customers. It then released the names and details of the buyers in public without their consent.
This resulted in a lot of embarrassment and humiliation for the buyers. It also led to the
disturbance of the social harmony for the parties that were involved. The actions that were
carried out by the web site were also not in accordance with the social guidelines (Wempe,
2004).
The two sets of activities, that is, the activities of the buyers and the activities of the web site
were not in social agreement. It has therefore been evaluated that the actions mentioned in the
case study were not ethically correct as per the ethical theory of Contract.
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Ethical Analysis
Recommendations and Conclusion
Hacking is an activity that cannot be justified or accepted unless it is professional and the parties
that are involved have provided their consent. There are various hacking activities that are
performed for testing of the systems and applications and those activities are legal as well.
However, in this case, the hacking services that were being provided by the web site were not
legal. These services may have resulted in the legal obligations for the buyer and for the service
provider as well. It was necessary to put a stop on the same. The mechanism that the web site
adopted to do the same was not ethical as well. The details of the buyers were released in public
which led to a lot of embarrassment and humiliation for them.
The corrective and ethical form of action would have been to deny the services to the buyers and
to inform them in private that consent will be required from all the parties to carry out hacking
services and activities.
The web site should have also obtained a professional contract to execute the hacking services.
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Ethical Analysis
References
Bentham, J. (2005). Business Ethics: Utilitarianism. Retrieved 7 September 2017, from
http://ww2.it.nuigalway.ie/staff/h_melvin/prof_skill/L2_handout.pdf
Bowden, P. (2005). Virtue ethics, Aristotle and organisational behaviour. Retrieved 7 September
2017, from http://w3.unisa.edu.au/hawkeinstitute/gig/aapae05/documents/bowden-
virtue.pdf
Browne, K. (2012). Introduction to the social contract theory. Retrieved 7 September 2017, from
http://www2.econ.iastate.edu/classes/econ362/hallam/Readings/SocialContractHelium.pdf
Equip. (2017). Ethics Theories: Utilitarianism Vs. Deontological Ethics - Christian Research
Institute. Christian Research Institute. Retrieved 7 September 2017, from
http://www.equip.org/article/ethics-theories-utilitarianism-vs-deontological-ethics/
Gamlund, E. (2012). Ethics. Retrieved 7 September 2017, from
https://www.uio.no/studier/emner/matnat/ifi/MNSES9100/v14/lectures/mnses-ethical-
theory-gamlund.pdf
Grcic, J. (2013). Virtue Theory, Relativism and Survival. Retrieved 7 September 2017, from
http://www.ijssh.org/papers/273-C10018.pdf
Hursthouse, R. (2000). Virtue Ethics and Human Nature. Retrieved 7 September 2017, from
http://www.humesociety.org/hs/issues/v25n1-2/hursthouse/hursthouse-v25n1-2.pdf
O’Neill, O. (2010). Kantean Ethics. Retrieved 7 September 2017, from
http://gbelic.org/courses/intro/lectures/lecture-7-deontology.pdf
Tung, L. (2015). Rent-a-hacker site leaks Australian buyers' names and addresses. The Sydney
Morning Herald. Retrieved 7 September 2017, from
http://www.smh.com.au/it-pro/security-it/rentahacker-site-leaks-australian-buyers-names-
and-addresses-20150529-ghca3f.html
Wempe, B. (2004). On the use of the social contract model in business ethics. Retrieved 7
September 2017, from http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1467-
8608.2004.00374.x/abstract
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