Legal and Ethical Dimensions of Hacking and Privacy Protection

This essay delves into the ethical issues arising from technological advancements and hacking, particularly concerning privacy. It distinguishes between white hat, black hat, and gray hat hackers, and discusses the role of ethical hackers in cybersecurity. The essay examines the ethical implications of accessing personal information without consent, referencing utilitarianism and deontology to analyze the ethical dilemma. It emphasizes the importance of professional codes of conduct in handling such situations, highlighting honesty, professionalism, and adherence to legal frameworks. The conclusion reinforces the fundamental right to privacy and the need for vigilance in protecting personal information online. Desklib provides students with access to this and other solved assignments to aid in their studies.

INTRODUCTION
This essay discusses on the ethical issues that have risen from the development of technology
and hacking. The use of social media has really exposed people to unlikely hacks. There are
various ways in which hackers gain and acquire information about a person through the internet.
The use of tools such as malware and spyware can be used to capture information without the
persons consent. These tools are used by hackers to acquire the information. Hackers are
unethical people who hack into people’s accounts and also can hack into banks and organizations
without their authorization. The information can be used to do a lot of harm such as stealing or
impersonation. There are various types of hackers and these include
White hackers also known as ethical hackers. These are experts who are hired by governments or
companies to find vulnerabilities in their systems. They help to further secure your systems.
Black hat hackers. These are criminals who hack your systems for financial gain or to acquire
certain vital information in an organization.
Gray hat hackers. These types of hackers fall in between the black and white hat hackers. They
can hack into your system and later inform you or leak to the public the vulnerabilities of your
system
Therefore, companies have to ensure that their systems are secure so that user information is
secured and also people can secure themselves online by being cautious while opening some
sites and also sharing a lot of information on the internet. There are very numerous ways in
which an organization can try to have a secure system and one of them is penetration testing. A
penetration test which is also referred to as pen test is a cyberattack that is simulated on a
specified system to identify vulnerabilities the system may have that might be exploited. The
process involves attempting to breach different application systems such as servers, API, a
network etc. so as to identify if they may have any vulnerabilities. The main aim why pen test is
done is to find weaknesses in the system security. Also, it can be used to determine whether an
organization fully complies with the security policies and also to test their awareness and
response to security threats. These weaknesses and vulnerabilities are addressed by the
organization to make the system more secure and also to prevent any major damage being done
if they were hacked.

Ordinary people and everyone else has a right to privacy. It is unethical to access the information
of a person without their consent. Accessing a person information can cause harm to them in
various ways. People can use that data to track a person and to harm to them, it can be used for
impersonation and also credit card frauds. There are laws that protect people and their
information. Therefore, it is unethical and unlawful to access anyone’s data without permission.
There are various theories that can explain the ethical dilemma involved in accessing a person’s
information but I will concentrate on two, utilitarianism and deontology.
Utilitarianism holds that a moral action is the one that produces the most good as a result. Th act
being moral or not is determined by the consequence of the act. Therefore, if the end result
people are happy then the action is said to be ethical. When an attacker accesses the information
of a person, the end result is that the person may lose their privacy and may also damage the
system depending on the type of attack carried out. The end result is that damage is caused to the
person and also to their systems. This is not an end result that has produced any good result
hence making the action unethical. Therefore, as explained using the theory of utilitarianism it is
unethical for someone to invade someone’s else privacy.
The second theory is deontology. This theory states that people should stick to their duties and
obligations when engaged in an ethical dilemma during decision making. Following the said
rules is what is considered to be ethical. It focuses on whether an action is right or wrong. A
person is very consistent when applying deontology as their principal since they follow the laid
down rules. I use this theory to assess the dilemma whether it is ethical or unethical to access the
information of ordinary people. Access to someone’s information is illegal and therefore this
theory does not support intrusion of someone’s privacy. It is unethical to access the information.
The professional code of conduct is a set of rules which need to be followed by member of that
particular profession. It requires that each member abide to the laid down rules and act with
integrity, responsibility and professionalism. It might be challenging for a professional to deal
with dilemmas but they must conduct themselves with utmost professionalism and at the same
time show integrity. If there is a proposal to access the information of an ordinary person, a
professional should find the correct way in handling the matter. Some of the professional code of
conduct rules that may apply include honesty and professionalism. The expert should show
integrity and honest while handling the problem regardless of the situation. Secondly the expert

should show professionalism in handling the matter. There should be no incidence of
discrimination or any form of harassment. When the matter is brought to a profession, evaluate
and ensure that you follow all the laws that are in place to handle the matter. If it’s a matter of
accessing someone’s information, get authorization from the appropriate people e.g. the owner or
law enforcement. This ensures that you abide by the professional code of conduct.
CONCLUSION
Right to privacy is a basic human right which must be adhered to. From the above discussions, I
can conclude that accessing anyone’s information is unethical regardless of the reason one may
have. Proper channels should be followed to gain access to that information and these may
include permission from the owner or a warranty from the court of law. Also, people should be
always vigilant when online to prevent disclosing their information to the outside world and also
proper security measures should be put in place to prevent unauthorized access to information.

REFERENCES
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