Ethical and Sustainability Report: ICT and Verizon Wireless Analysis

This report delves into the ethical and sustainability aspects of Information and Communications Technology (ICT), focusing on a case study of Verizon Wireless and its data breach. It begins by defining ICT and its applications, along with the importance of ethical codes of conduct within organizations. The core of the report examines the Verizon Wireless case, detailing the breach of confidential customer data due to vulnerabilities in cloud-based systems. The analysis includes a discussion of the breach's ethical implications, the company's failure to adhere to its code of conduct, and the impact of the breach on customer trust and the company's reputation. The report also explores similar case studies, such as the WannaCry ransomware attack, to highlight broader ethical and security challenges in the technological landscape. The report concludes by emphasizing the significance of proactive cybersecurity measures, robust ethical guidelines, and the responsible management of ICT infrastructure to prevent future breaches and maintain public trust in technology.

Running head: ETHICAL AND SUSTAINABILITY REPORT
Ethical and Sustainability Report
Name of the Student
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Executive Summary
The main aim of this report is to understand the basic concept of information and
communications technology or ICT. This is understood with the help of a case study related to
ICT. Moreover, the case study is judged on the basis of ethical code of conduct in any
organization. The case study selected in this report is the Verizon Wireless case study of the
United States of America. Another example is also provided of such swindle of unethical and
breaching.

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Table of Contents
Introduction....................................................................................................................................3
Discussion.....................................................................................................................................3
Information and Communications Technology...........................................................................3
Code of Conduct........................................................................................................................5
Verizon Wireless Case Study....................................................................................................5
Similar Case Studies..................................................................................................................6
Judgment...................................................................................................................................7
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................8
References....................................................................................................................................9

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Introduction
Information and communications technology or ICT is the extension of information
technology. ICT mainly integrates telecommunications like wireless signals, telephone lines with
computer systems. The users mainly utilize ICT for accessing, storing, retrieving, transmitting
and manipulating the information (Martin, Kinross and Hankin 2017). Moreover, the middleware,
audio video systems, enterprise software and storage are also integrated utilizing information
and communications technology. The process of integration of telecommunications and several
Internet enabled systems in order to perform any type of information related functions like
storing, manipulating, retrieving, accessing and transmitting (O’Dowd 2017). There is a constant
change in the methods, the concepts and the applications that are involved with information and
communications technology. Ethics are the set of certain rules or principles that help in guiding
the behaviour of an individual or guiding in conducting of a particular activity. In other words,
ethics is a section of knowledge, which deals with all types of moral principles. Ethics is
maintained or followed by all organizations. These help them to understand the basic difference
between right and wrong and how to apply this understanding in their work place and decisions
(O'Gorman and McDonald 2012). The set of rules or principles that are followed by the
organizations is known as the Codes of Conduct or Code of Ethics.
The following report describes about a real time case study related to information and
communications technology or ICT. This case study is also evaluated on the basis of ethics or
ethical codes of conduct (Patel et al. 2013). The report outlines about the famous case study of
the telecommunications company namely, Verizon Wireless. They were involved in a huge
swindle in the month of July 2017. The report describes about the detailed research about the
case study of Verizon. Relevant information is provided about the case study. The case study is
judged or analysed on the basis of professional codes of conduct.
Discussion
Information and Communications Technology
Information and communications technology or ICT helps to store, retrieve, manipulate,
transmit and access any type of information by utilizing this technology. This is basically the
integration of telecommunication techniques and various Internet enabled systems (Patel et al.
2013). ICT mainly integrates telecommunications like wireless signals, telephone lines with

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computer systems. Apart from the computers, the middleware, the enterprise software, the
audio video systems and the storage is also integrated by information and communications
technology. There is a constant change or movement in the applications, concepts and methods
of information and communications technology (O'Gorman and McDonald 2012). The main
feature of information and communications technology is that the information related functions
like storing, manipulating, retrieving, accessing and transmitting are done electronically and
digitally. ICT has various significant benefits or advantages. The main advantages of information
and communications technology are as follows:
i) Security: The major advantage of ICT is its security. ICT produces extreme security to
the information and there is almost zero chance of hacking on information in any system
(Romanosky, Hoffman and Acquisti 2014). This feature makes information and communications
technology extremely popular for any organization and thus it is adopted by various
organizations.
ii) New Communication Methods: Information and communications technology or ICT
has enabled several types of innovative methods of communication, which in turn allows the
users for contacting other people in a cost effective way (Uchiumi, Kikuchi and Matsumoto
2012). The several methods like video conferencing, messaging and texting helps to
communicate the individuals with other people and these are easily done by information and
communications technology.
iii) Cost Effective: Information and communications technology is extremely cost
effective and does not incur huge cost (O'Gorman and McDonald 2012). This is another main
advantage of ICT.
iv) Increased Efficiency: Information and communications technology increases
efficiency in any organization and thus it is extremely popular for any organization (Khalil et al.
2013). This increment in efficiency is the main reason for any organization to opt for information
and communications technology.
v) Reduces Complexities: ICT is the integration of telecommunications and Internet
enabled systems or devices (Martin, Kinross and Hankin 2017). This in turn reduces the
complexities of separately utilizing telecommunications and Internet enables systems.
These advantages make information and communications technology or ICT extremely
popular for all organizations.

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Code of Conduct
The Code of Conduct are the set of ethical rules or principles that outlines the norms of
social life and also religious responsibilities and rules for an individual, an organization or a
specific party (Patel et al. 2013). This Code of Conduct is followed by or is supposed to be
followed by all organizations for their business. When an organization is found to be not
following the professional Code of Conduct, it is evident that it is being unethical in nature and
thus it can be penalised at any moment. This Code of conduct is even followed by all employees
of that organization (Uchiumi, Kikuchi and Matsumoto 2012). A simple code of conduct is set for
all the employees of an organization and they are bound to follow that under every
circumstance. This code in turn secures the organization from being unethical and maintains a
strict discipline within the business. This is mandatory for even small organizations and
businesses (O'Gorman and McDonald 2012). This code of conduct does not have huge
document within it and rather have simple rules, which are to be followed with strict restrictions.
Verizon Wireless Case Study
Verizon Wireless is a popular organization of telecommunications, which operates in the
United States of America. They normally provide several wireless services and devices to their
customers or clients. They have undergone through a dangerous ICT breach (Fox Business
2017). This was done by leaking confidential data of the clients in the cloud. The partner of
Verizon did this data breaching. This was extremely unethical. On 13th July 2017, USA
witnessed one of the greatest unethical breaches of information and communications
technology. All the confidential data were leaked cloud and thus almost all the confidential data
of the accounts of their customers were exposed (Khalil et al. 2013). They had huge number
customers, which crossed the number up to fourteen million. The main cause for the breaching
of the confidential data was a repository file that was completely based on cloud. The cloud
based software or NICE systems or Neptune Intelligence Computer Engineering owned the
system. The third party vendor of the Verizon Company was NICE systems. The data repository
of Verizon was the S3 bucket of Amazon Web Services. The confidential data of the customers
include the bank account details, contact numbers, names, addresses and many more
(Mathews 2017). All these confidential information were accessed and leaked via the S3 bucker
of AWS or Amazon Web Services. The most threatening part of this breach is that the PIN
numbers were exposed in the cloud. This breaching of data shows the problems and the
security issues of cloud computing and the challenges for the cloud computing. The second
cause of the data breaching of Verizon was the non configuration of the cloud based structure
that was provided by NICE systems. This particular case study is the perfect example of the

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integration of information and communications technology and ethics (O’Dowd 2017). The data
breaching was unethical and was dependent on ICT. The partner of Verizon did this purposely
and this was absolutely unethical. It is the responsibility of any organization to protect and
secure the data or information of the employees. If they are unable to do so or deliberately
breach the data, it is considered as unethical in nature (Martin, Kinross and Hankin 2017). In
Verizon Wireless case study the code of conduct, include the security of the data or information
of the clients and customers, to produce the best quality of the products, to ensure that if any
problem occurs in future with the products, they will take actions against it. They did not follow
the code of conduct and thus turned into unethical. Verizon Wireless was defamed due to this
and it lost many customers and clients (Fox Business 2017). The most important problem in any
cloud network is the configuration. Any type of wrong configuration can lead to problems that
are related to the network management of cloud. They should have utilized relevant tools for
allowing and enabling the cloud for working in an effective an efficient manner. The major
problem in the case study of Verizon Wireless was the base of the infrastructure of information
technology or IT. This breaching would not have been occurred if the third party vendor would
have solved the non configuration issue. This management of configuration would have solved
the matter and the breaching would not have taken place (Khalil et al. 2013). Moreover, for
stopping the unethical act, the software should have been upgraded and the hardware
performance should have been checked. The cyber security policies would have stopped this
particular unethical act. ICT is the best technology for any type of functions of information.
However, Verizon Wireless should had been careful with their information and communications
technology. They should have been ethical and should have followed the professional code of
conduct (Uchiumi, Kikuchi and Matsumoto 2012). Moreover, the application of web gateway
would have eliminated or reduced the chances of threats or risks in their system.
Similar Case Studies
There are many similar case studies in technological world (Shabtai, Elovici and Rokach
2012). These case studies are also dangerous for the entire society and technological world.
These types of case studies hugely affect the entire ethical and technological world. Technology
is the biggest boon of society. However, by the utilization of this technology, several crimes are
noticed. One of the most dangerous case studies in the world is the Wanna Cry Ransom ware
Cyber Attack in May 2017. A crypto worm known as the Wanna Cry Ransomware crypto worm
did this (Collier 2017). Some of the typical computers were targeted in this attack. The attacks
were on those computers, which were running on the operating system or OS of the Microsoft
Windows. The data or the information of the operating system was encrypted. More than

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230000 computers were affected and it occurred in more than one hundred and fifty countries. It
occurred on May 12, 2017. The main affected area was National Health Service of United
Kingdom. They were able to run only few services, when the services were required in
emergency situations (Mattei 2017). After some of the days of the attack, a security researcher
discovered the kill switch and found out the code or software for ransom ware, which in case led
to the slower procedure of the attack. Three days later, on 15th May, the cause for the incident
was detected. Microsoft detected the threats and came out with certain methods or techniques
for overcoming flaws in the system (Mohurle and Patil 2017). Moreover, the systems of the
hospitals were also affected. The popular car manufacturing organization, the Nissan
Manufacturing in United Kingdom was compelled to stop their production due to this crypto
worm and the attack. Even the attack affected Renault (pascariu, barbu and bacivarov 2017). It
was extremely unethical as the attackers or the hackers demanded for ransom for stopping the
crypto worm. Although, the hackers were not a part of a particular organization, still they should
have followed the ethical way and should not had been indulged in such unethical acts.
Judgment
From the above two case studies, it is evident that all organization should maintain and
follow code of conduct in their business. The Verizon Wireless organization has suffered from
ethical problems as their partner has breached the confidential data or information of the
customers with the help of information and communications technology or ICT. This was
absolutely unethical as they did not follow the Code of Conduct. In the second case study, the
scenario was little different. Certain hackers, who wanted ransom, did the WannaCry Ransom
Ware and thus they released a crypto worm. This was extremely unethical in nature as it
affected many organizations and especially the hospitals. Many patients, doctors and hospital
staffs suffered due to this. The hackers, although not a part of any organization, still have a set
of moral rules and regulations in their life and they did not follow these rules. Both of the case
studies were different, yet both were unethical in nature and both have not followed the code of
conduct. Thus, it can be said that, both the cases were related to information and
communications technology and both of them were unethical in nature.
Conclusion
Therefore, from the above discussion it can be concluded that, information and
communications technology or ICT is nothing but an extended term of information technology.
The integration of information and communications technology or ICT and telecommunications

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like several wireless technologies, signals and several telephone lines. Moreover, the
middleware, audio video systems, enterprise software and storage are also integrated by using
information and communications technology. The clients normally use the information and
communications technology for the storage, retrieval, transmission and access of the
information. This particular procedure of integrating the several Internet enabled systems and
the telecommunications in order to perform all types of functions, which are related to
information. These functions normally include the storage, access, retrieval and transmission of
information. There is a drastic transformation in the approaches, the concepts and the
applications. These are involved with information and communications technology. Ethics are
basically the set of various rules or principles, which help in the guidance of the behaviour of a
particular individual or in the guidance in conducting of a particular activity. In simple words,
ethics is a section of knowledge, which deals with all types of moral principles. Ethics is followed
or maintained by all organizations. In fact, all the organizations are bound to maintain and follow
ethical rules.These help them to understand the basic difference between right and wrong and
how to apply this understanding in their work place and decisions. The set of rules or principles
that are followed by the organizations is known as the Codes of Conduct or Code of Ethics. The
above report contains the description about a recent case study related to information and
communications technology or ICT. This case study is normally evaluated on the basis of ethics
or ethical codes of conduct. The report has outlined about the famous case study of the
telecommunications company namely, Verizon Wireless. They were involved in a huge fraud in
the month of July 2017. The popular case study of Verizon Wireless took place on 13th July
2017 in the United States of America. The report describes about the detailed research about
the case study of Verizon. Relevant information is provided about the case study. Moreover,
another case study is also provided with respect to information and communications technology
and codes of conduct. This case study is again extremely popular and is known as the Wanna
Cry Ransom Ware case study. The analysis or the judgement is made on the case study with
respect to the professional codes of conduct in a particular business.

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References
Collier, R. 2017. NHS ransomware attack spreads worldwide.
Fox Business. (2017). Verizon customer information exposed in data breach. [online] Available
at: http://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/07/13/security-lapse-leaks-data-from-millions-
verizon-customers.html [Accessed 16 Oct. 2017].
Khalil, I. M., Khreishah, A., Bouktif, S., and Ahmad, A. 2013, April. Security concerns in cloud
computing. In Information Technology: New Generations (ITNG), 2013 Tenth International
Conference on (pp. 411-416). IEEE.
Martin, G., Kinross, J., and Hankin, C. 2017. Effective cybersecurity is fundamental to patient
safety.
Mathews, L. 2017. Millions Of Verizon Customers Exposed By Third-Party Data
Leak. Forbes.com. Retrieved 16 October 2017, from
https://www.forbes.com/sites/leemathews/2017/07/13/millions-of-verizon-customers-exposed-
by-third-party-leak/#929962836bc9
Mattei, T. A. 2017. Privacy, Confidentiality, and Security of Health Care Information: Lessons
from the Recent WannaCry Cyberattack. World Neurosurgery, 104, 972-974.
Mohurle, S., and Patil, M.2017. A brief study of Wannacry Threat: Ransomware Attack
2017. International Journal, 8(5).
O’Dowd, A. 2017. NHS patient data security is to be tightened after cyberattack.
O'Gorman, G., and McDonald, G. 2012. Ransomware: A growing menace. Symantec
Corporation.
pascariu, C., barbu, I. D., and bacivarov, I. C. 2017 Investigative Analysis and Technical
Overview of Ransomware Based Attacks. Case Study: WannaCry.
Patel, A., Taghavi, M., Bakhtiyari, K., and JúNior, J. C. 2013. An intrusion detection and
prevention system in cloud computing: A systematic review. Journal of network and computer
applications, 36(1), 25-41.

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Romanosky, S., Hoffman, D., and Acquisti, A. 2014. Empirical analysis of data breach
litigation. Journal of Empirical Legal Studies, 11(1), 74-104.
Shabtai, A., Elovici, Y., and Rokach, L. 2012. A survey of data leakage detection and prevention
solutions. Springer Science & Business Media.
Uchiumi, T., Kikuchi, S., and Matsumoto, Y. 2012, September. Misconfiguration detection for
cloud datacenters using decision tree analysis. In Network Operations and Management
Symposium (APNOMS), 2012 14th Asia-Pacific (pp. 1-4). IEEE.