MN501 Assignment 1: Ethical Issues in ICT Security Personnel

This report explores the ethical dilemmas faced by IT security professionals, particularly concerning access to sensitive data and the potential for misuse. It highlights the lack of standardized ethical guidelines and the impact of this on decision-making. The report discusses issues such as price fixing, bid rigging, and price discrimination, emphasizing the importance of transparency and honesty in business transactions. It proposes ethical strategies, including fair pricing models, unbiased product selection, and the avoidance of favoritism. The report underscores the need for sustainable practices and healthy relationships between suppliers and consumers in the ICT field to prevent future ethical breaches and business failures. The report concludes that IT professionals should avoid unethical pricing and focus on long term relationships.

Running head: Ethical Issues in ICT 1
Ethical Issues in ICT
Name
Institutional Affiliation

ETHICAL ISSUES IN ICT 2
Ethical Issues in ICT
Question 2
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.

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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

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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.

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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
http://bruegel.org/2017/02/big-data-and-first-degree-price-discrimination/
Shinder, D. (2005). Ethical issues for IT security professionals. Computerworld. Retrieved from
http://www.computerworld.com/article/2557944/security0/ethical-issues-for-it-security-
professionals.html