MGT301A - Data Security Ethics: Stakeholder Impact & Solutions

This report examines the ethical challenges surrounding data security within the IT industry, focusing on the impact on various stakeholders. It identifies the key ethical issue as the security and privacy of sensitive data, highlighting the potential for financial loss and reputational damage to individuals, organizations, and investors. The report explores alternatives for addressing these concerns, including authentication tools, robust data security policies, malware protection, and collaborative approaches. While acknowledging the limitations of collaboration due to competitive pressures, the report advocates for the use of authentication tools as a preferred method for securing valuable data and restricting unauthorized access. It concludes by emphasizing the importance of continuous improvement in security measures to mitigate future data breaches. Desklib offers a wealth of resources, including similar reports and solved assignments, to support students in their academic endeavors.

ETHICS
AND
SUSTAINABILITY

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Ways of doing business have changed in every industry and so is in the IT industry. It
has become essential for the companies to make sure that they have an effective plan for
protecting the data of the stakeholders that are associated with the industry. Otherwise it has a
very negative impact on the interests of the stakeholders. This report points out towards the
alternatives such as collaborative approach, use of authentication tools, data security policy
and use of malwares can be highly beneficial. It depends on the requirement of companies
that which alternative they want to use. This report also throws light on the use of
authentication tools for safeguarding important information.

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Content
s
INTRODUCTION......................................................................................................................3
Ethical issue and its impact on stakeholders..........................................................................3
Alternatives taken by companies for addressing security concerns.......................................3
Preferred alternative...............................................................................................................4
CONCLUSION..........................................................................................................................4
REFERENCES...........................................................................................................................5
INTRODUCTION
Modern world of business has changed irrespective of the industry. This has brought
many kinds of ethical concerns with it. The competitiveness in the market has increased

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considerably (Carroll and Buchholtz, 2014). In the race to make more profits than
competitors, companies are less concerned about the ethics and sustainability. There are
many ethical issues that are arising in day to day operations of the firm. In the IT industry
which is one of the biggest industries in today’s time is facing lot of ethical concerns. All
these ethical issues in the industry are directly or indirectly affecting the stakeholders
associated with this industry. This report showcases the major ethical issue persisting in the
IT industry and its impact on their stakeholders. It also illustrates about the ways in which
this ethical issue can be addressed.
Ethical issue and its impact on stakeholders
There are many ethical issues that have come in the IT industry (Ramey, 2012). The
problem has become worse because the use of IT mediums have increased. It has become the
part and parcel of life. The major ethical issue that is present within the industry is of
security. The security and privacy of data of many peoples is at stake (Stahl, Eden and
Jirotka, 2013). It is to be understood that there are many people who are taking the use of IT
technologies for doing their job. The Use of internet mediums has made the situation adverse.
If there is any kind of private data being leaked then it can result in loss in terms of like
money or prestige. It is not just the individuals who got affected by these issues;
organisations are also affected by these ethical concerns. This is due to the reason that if the
data of the organisations are leaked then it can be loss to them and their stakeholders.
Hackers are in search of such kind of data can take use of it for their personal benefit. Apart
from this the data leaks can be used by the competitors for their personal benefit. It the cut
throat competition this can be highly dangerous for the company.
This ethical issue has a greater impact on the stakeholders that are associated with the firm.
This can be understood in the terms that if the data gets leaked related to any stakeholders
then it can lead to heavy loss to the prestige of individuals (Wright, 2011). If the data is of
significant importance then it may lead to heavy losses to the investors as this data can be
utilised by someone else for having strategic edge over the company. Many a times it is seen
that the employees are under the great pressure to preserve the data in a better way and take
all the measures that can safeguard against such data breaches. It can be seen in many cases
that the loss of the company is also the loss to the consumers for which the governments has
to pay if the company is unable to give them compensation.

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Alternatives taken by companies for addressing security concerns
There are many ways in which this ethical concern can be addressed (Luftman and
Zadeh, 2011). It differs from company to company in the whole industry that what preventive
measures they uses for tackling this issue. Some of the widely used alternatives are as
follows;
 Authentication tools: There are many kinds of authentication tools that are available
for the purpose of not providing unauthorised access to anyone. Many a times it is
also measure reason for the data breach. Use of tools like the passwords protected
pages or the OTP helps in securing the data from illegal access (Reynolds, 2011).
 Data security policy: It has been seen in the past that many a times due to the lack of
policy such incidents happens. It is the role of the management to make sure that they
have an effective policy for stopping of such kinds of incidents. It is also the role of
the management to communicate it with all the stakeholders associated with it. The
policy must contain the clear guidelines regarding what to be done and what not
(Schwalbe, 2015).
 Use of malwares: With the use of malwares it can be possible to protect the IT system
from the attack of any kind of virus (D'Arcy and Devaraj, 2012). This is due to the
reason that many a times it can be seen that hackers are not in the search of any data
rather they aim to destroy the data that is stored in the systems. There are large
amount of cyber-attacks being noticed in many parts of the world. In many cases it is
done by the competitors for giving long term loss to the company and its image.
 Collaborative approach: Since all the companies in the IT industry are in the
competition so a collaborative approach is not possible (Laudon and Laudon, 2016).
But it is essential that there must be forum that helps every company whether big or
small from such kind of ethical concern. The technology developed by any company
must be shared with everyone else for securing their data.
Preferred alternative
Among the several alternatives that are available for the companies to secure their
data, the selection of appropriate one depends on the requirement of the company. But the use
of authentication tools can be one of the best ways for addressing this ethical concern
(Friedewald and Raabe, 2011). This is also due to the fact that most of the hackers are always
in search of finding easy access to the most valuable data of the company. Protecting it with
the use of authentication tool will not make their path easy. Without the prior permission of

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the stakeholder their data cannot be accessed. It is also to make sure that the access to the
most valuable data of the company is also given to only few of the people. Everybody must
have an access up to certain level as per their requirements. It is also the role of the
management to make sure that they continuously improve the authentication tools so as to
safeguard the information from such type of data breach in the future also.
CONCLUSION
From the above mentioned report it can be concluded that IT industry has great roles
in the lives of both individuals and organisations. This has raised several kinds of ethical
concerns for the people as many private and protected data is stored on the mediums and
securing them can be a difficult task. This ethical issue can be a heavy loss to the company as
if the data related to strategic importance gets leaked then it can be utilised by the competitors
for their benefits. Ultimately it has an effect on the stakeholders associated with the industry.
There are many alternatives that are present for addressing this issue and it depends on the
need of the company which alternative they prefer.
REFERENCES

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Carroll, A. and Buchholtz, A., (2014) Business and society: Ethics, sustainability, and
stakeholder management. Nelson Education.
D'Arcy, J. and Devaraj, S., (2012) Employee misuse of information technology resources:
testing a contemporary deterrence model. Decision Sciences, 43(6), pp.1091-1124.
Friedewald, M. and Raabe, O., (2011) Ubiquitous computing: An overview of technology
impacts. Telematics and Informatics, 28(2), pp.55-65.
Laudon, K.C. and Laudon, J.P., (2016) Management information system. Pearson Education
India.
Luftman, J. and Zadeh, H.S., (2011) Key information technology and management issues
2010–11: an international study. Journal of Information Technology, 26(3), pp.193-204.
Quinn, M.J., 2014. Ethics for the information age. Boston, MA: Pearson.
Ramey, K. (2012) 5 Ethical challenges of Information Technology. [Online]. Available at:
https://www.useoftechnology.com/5-ethical-challenges-information-technology/. [Accessed
on: 28th March 2018].
Reynolds, G., (2011) Ethics in information technology. Cengage learning.
Schwalbe, K., (2015) Information technology project management. Cengage Learning.
Stahl, B.C., Eden, G. and Jirotka, M., (2013) Responsible research and innovation in
information and communication technology: Identifying and engaging with the ethical
implications of ICTs. Responsible innovation: Managing the responsible emergence of
science and innovation in society, pp.199-218.
Wright, D., (2011) A framework for the ethical impact assessment of information technology.
Ethics and information technology, 13(3), pp.199-226.

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