Ethical Dilemmas in Software Development

This assignment delves into the ethical dilemmas faced during software development, particularly concerning security. It analyzes a scenario where a project prioritizes time and cost over robust security measures, leading to potential vulnerabilities. The student examines various stakeholders' perspectives, explores alternative solutions, and evaluates the implications of different actions on project time, cost, quality, and reputation.

Running head: IT ETHICS
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Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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What are the ethical problems you identified in your chosen YouTube video?
The ethical problem which is seen in the Selected YouTube video is that a software
without proper encryption is being delivered to the client. This is basically done due to the factor
of time constraint. This directly helps in delivering the project on time but compromise is done in
the encryption process.
Why are these ethical problems?
The problem which is seen in the scenario is an ethical problem due to the factor that a
software without its basic encryption is liable for hackers to indulge into the system. This makes
the system liable to vulnerability. The data in the system can be directly be hacked and the data
can be used by the hackers for many activities according to their need. This issue can result in a
big problem if the data include personal information of the user which may include password and
email addresses.
Who is responsible for these problems?
The responsibility of these aspect directly lies in the hand of the developer of the
software. There are responsible due to the factor that it is the responsibility of the program
director to provide all the necessary security measures. This security measures does not only help
in protecting the software but also help in providing a basic framework which provides necessary
measures to protect it from hackers (Ding et al., 2014).
Who is affected by these problems?
This problem would directly affect the client. This is due to the factor that the developers
tend to deliver the system on time lagging behind the basic concepts of the security (Chen et al.,

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2016). On the other hand the client’s data would be at a risk of getting into the hand of hackers
who could use the data for their own purpose (Kumar, Khan & Khan, 2015). On the other hand
the stakeholders are also affected by means of budgeting constraints due to the factor that it
would involve more after sales service such as sending the patch of the encryption and updating
the system. This could be very much a haptic job from the point of view of the project manager
as this could lead to problem in the near future.
What project management strategies could have prevented these problems from arising in the
first place?
The strategy that could have prevented such a situation is extra precaution on the
deadline aspect. It should have been considered that the delivery of the project is approaching
and it should have been delay in a proper way so that the project meet the necessary deadline.
This factor could have been managed by preparing a basic project management schedule. Taking
into consideration the waterfall model of the project management could have been taken into
consideration. The model provides a basic framework which deals with all the steps which are
involved in the process of the software development.
Which of the three actions in your chosen YouTube video is better? Why?
Among the three action plans that are being chosen in the YouTube video, the best action
that should be taken into consideration is that the program director ignores project manager
recommendation (Pires et al., 2016). This action would directly involve delay in the delivery of
the project but on the other hand the quality of the product would not be compromised. If the
compromise of the sector of the quality is not altered it would directly affect the reputation of the

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company. And on the other hand after sales service would not be required which involves may
added disadvantage.
What action other than the three in your chosen YouTube video, can best resolve the problems?
Other option that can help in resolving the issue is that, every client wants the software to
be perfect that does not involve any security issue involved in it. The date of the launch of the
software can wait until all the security aspects are meet and treated properly. This would result in
no issue related to security in the near future.
Who should take the best action? Why?
The best action should be taken from the side of the program director who is the overall
leader in the main implementation of the software. The security issue that should be
implemented in the software so that it is not vulnerable to any security issue is best known by the
program director (Sadeghi et al., 2017). The program director in every situation is the main
player who plays a very important role in different role from the initiation of the project to the
completion of the project and its delivery.
What are the implications of the best action on the project’s time, cost and quality?
The implication of the factor of delaying of the launch would hamper the factor of time
which was estimated for the launch but quality can be considered as a factor which should not be
avoided in any circumstances. If the factor of the quality is compromised it would directly affect
the reputation of the company involved in the manufacture (Scott-Hayward, Natarajan & Sezer,
2016).
What are the consequences of the best action on the project stakeholders?

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The project stakeholders would be affected by the delay in the delivery of the project.
The cost of the project would be affected and this would be a negative aspect leading towards the
project. The cost issue can be considered to be the only factor that would be hampering when
taking into account the delay of then project delivery. But on the other hand the quality of the
software should not be compromised with as it directly involve the reputation of the company.

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References
Pires, R., Pasin, M., Felber, P., & Fetzer, C. (2016, November). Secure content-based routing
using intel software guard extensions. In Proceedings of the 17th International
Middleware Conference (p. 10). ACM.
Scott-Hayward, S., Natarajan, S., & Sezer, S. (2016). A survey of security in software defined
networks. IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials, 18(1), 623-654.
Chen, M., Qian, Y., Mao, S., Tang, W., & Yang, X. (2016). Software-defined mobile networks
security. Mobile Networks and Applications, 21(5), 729-743.
Ding, A. Y., Crowcroft, J., Tarkoma, S., & Flinck, H. (2014). Software defined networking for
security enhancement in wireless mobile networks. Computer Networks, 66, 94-101.
Sadeghi, A., Bagheri, H., Garcia, J., & Malek, S. (2017). A taxonomy and qualitative comparison
of program analysis techniques for security assessment of android software. IEEE
Transactions on Software Engineering, 43(6), 492-530.
Kumar, R., Khan, S. A., & Khan, R. A. (2015). Revisiting software security: durability
perspective. International Journal of Hybrid Information Technology (SERSC), 8(2),
311-322.