The Ethical Dilemma of Software Encryption: A Case Study Analysis

This case study examines an ethical dilemma faced by the Willis Group of Companies, an Australian ICT organization, concerning the launch of a software platform without encryption. The central conflict involves Greg, the project manager, who prioritizes data security through encryption, versus Dan, the director, who emphasizes meeting a strict launch deadline. The study analyzes the situation through the lens of the Australian Computer Society Code of Professional Conduct, particularly focusing on how Greg navigates the ethical challenges, balancing public interest, honesty, and professionalism. The analysis delves into the application of the ACS's six ethical laws, exploring the pressures and consequences of the decisions made by Greg and the director. The case highlights the importance of ethical decision-making in software development, the impact of prioritizing time-to-market versus data security, and the role of professional codes of conduct in guiding ethical choices. The conclusion underscores the significance of considering all aspects of the ethical framework and offers recommendations for project managers facing similar dilemmas, emphasizing the need for foresight, communication, and a commitment to data protection.

Running head: ETHICAL DILEMMA OF SOFTWARE ENCRYPTION
ETHICAL DILEMMA OF SOFTWARE ENCRYPTION
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
Author Note:

1ETHICAL DILEMMA OF SOFTWARE ENCRYPTION
Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
Discussion..................................................................................................................................2
Main Ethical Dilemma...........................................................................................................2
Analysis of the Dilemma........................................................................................................4
Recommendation....................................................................................................................6
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................6
References..................................................................................................................................7

2ETHICAL DILEMMA OF SOFTWARE ENCRYPTION
Introduction
In corporate life, there arises many situations where people cannot choose one
solution amongst the two available, without getting affected. These kind of scenarios where
people are forced to choose a moral solution that will be the best from an ethical perspective
is called a situation of ethical dilemma (Finnemore, 2018). The Australian Computer Society
Code of Professional Conduct in Australia is an organization that has set some rules and
regulations that has to be maintained in case any ethical dilemma occurs in the organizations
of the IT industry of Australia. It has implemented six ethical values or rather six laws that
the ICT professionals follow in their job life while dealing with ethical dilemma scenarios
(Weckert, 2017).
In the scenario of the provided case study, a situation of ethical dilemma has aroused
in the Willis group of companies while launching a software platform without encrypting the
software. The project manager Greg was not ready to launch the software without encrypting
it and the Director Dan was not ready to compromise with time delay. This situation led to an
ethical dilemma that will be discussed in the next sections of the paper.
Discussion
Main Ethical Dilemma
Willis group of companies is an organization that is a part of the ICT in Australia.
Being an IT organization, it launches software platforms that prove to be highly beneficial for
its customers. While developing a software, they first prepare a Software Requirement
Specification document that helps to provide a plan of the development of the software. It has
a set of developers that writes codes for the software design and a group of testers to debug
the programs and test them properly. Finally, the software is deployed in the market if it is

3ETHICAL DILEMMA OF SOFTWARE ENCRYPTION
ready to use and the company focuses on further maintenance. While developing the
software, none of the stages of the Software Development Lifecycle should be missed such
that the software made is of optimum quality and provides the best service to its customers
(Vitak, Shilton & Ashktorab. 2016, February). However, the Willis Group of Software in the
given case study violated such rules while launching a software.
In the mentioned organization, the project manager was assigned to develop and
launch a software within a stipulated period with his team of software engineers. However, he
failed to perform successfully. He could not complete the encryption of the software before
his delivery date. Encryption of the software refers to the methodologies by which a software
protects the millions of data of its customers and keep it safe from the hackers. This security
measure should be present in all software systems to maintain the confidentiality of the data
dealt by the software. However, the Director of the Software program, Mr Dan was not ready
to provide the team and its manager the extra time to encrypt the software. He was too much
determined to launch the software on the date that was set in advance. He also thought of
changing the manager of the project who will be able to deliver the project on time without
encrypting the software and thus discussed with Mr Steve, the CEO of the company,
regarding the same.
The main ethical dilemma of this scenario was for Greg, the project manager. It was
completely on him to decide whether to develop the software with encrypting it and then
deploy it in the market or to launch the unencrypted software on the scheduled date. If he has
to launch the unencrypted software, he might be maintaining the time as well as his
reputation in front of the managerial body by obeying the order of his director. In that case,
he will be risking the data of the customers because without encryption, anybody can easily
hack the data from the software. In this scenario, the reputation of the company will be at
stake in the end if the customer cannot rely on the software and trust with their data

4ETHICAL DILEMMA OF SOFTWARE ENCRYPTION
(Muhammad, Ahamd & Shah, 2015). Hence, Greg should definitely encrypt the software
only after which he should launch it. Again, if he does that, he will be delaying in launching
the software as well as disobeying the order of his director. In either of the way outs, he is in
an ethical dilemma what to do in this critical situation and what step should he take such that
no harm is caused to anybody associated with this project, be it the customers or the
organization.
Analysis of the Dilemma
According to the Australian Computer Society Code of Professional Conduct, there
exists six laws that the ICT professionals should follow in case of ethical dilemmas while
taking decisions. Greg being a professional employee of the Willis Group is no exceptional
and thus he has to take decisions abiding by these six laws of ACS in case of his ethical
dilemma of launching an unencrypted software. The six laws of ACS are ‘The Primacy of the
Public Interest’, ‘The Enhancement of the Quality of Life’, ‘Honesty’, ‘Competency’,
‘Professional Development’ and ‘Professionalism’ (Al-Saggaf, Burmeister & Schwartz,
2017). From the videos of the given case study, an analysis is done about which law of ACS
is associated with the particular scenarios.
In the video of ‘Early Launch’, it can be seen that the Director is trying to convince
Greg about maintaining the deadline while launching the software even if it is without
encryption. However, the project manager was reluctant to do so due to the safety issues
associated with the software. According to the code of ethics of ACS, the director was trying
to focus on the professionalism and did not want to delay the project beyond its stipulated
time (Ferguson, Thornley & Gibb, 2016). He also influenced the manager to increase his
competency level such that it enhances the teamwork that is based on the competency law of
ACS (Eide et al., 2018). Greg on the other hand, focused on the ‘Primacy of Public Interest’

5ETHICAL DILEMMA OF SOFTWARE ENCRYPTION
and was hesitant to launch the software without adding encryption to it. By this, he also
maintained honesty in his work.
In the video of ‘Project Manager surrendering to the Pressure’, the second law of code
of the code of ethics, which is ‘The Enhancement of the Quality of Life’, is being
compromised (Essien, 2018). From the news declared, it was seen that the software was
hacked leading to exposure of confidential data of the customers. Greg under the pressure of
the managerial body had to launch the software to maintain his professionalism towards the
organization. However, the director charged him about his actions when the quality of the
software was questionable. This led to a scenario of ethical dilemma for Greg. He understood
he should have followed his gut feeling and should have thought about the best interest of the
organization.
In the video, where the ‘Director ignores Project Manager’s Recommendation’ it is
seen that Greg denied to launch the software without doing its encryption. Hence, he is
abiding by the law of ‘The Primacy of Public Interest’ by ensuring safety to the clients as
well as maintaining reputation of the organization in the market (Reamer, 2017). He is also
following the law of ‘Enhancement of Quality Life’ by not compromising the quality of the
software. However, the Director is being too stubborn in the given scenario (McDermid,
2015). He should have taken the recommendation and appreciated the honesty of the project
manager. Rather, he chose to question the competency of Greg and thought of replacing him
with another project manager.
In the video where ‘The Director listens to the Team’, Greg convinced the director
around his way of thinking. He reflected in his actions the law of ‘Honesty’ in the code of
ethics (Harris et al., 2019). He was honest and stood for his standpoint rather than being
influenced by the director. The director in turn understood the situation and convinced the

6ETHICAL DILEMMA OF SOFTWARE ENCRYPTION
CEO of the company to extend some time for the project to complete successfully. According
to Burmeister (2017), he also preferred to follow the first two laws of the code of Ethics for
the best interest of everybody associated with the project.
Recommendation
Greg the project manager took the right decisions while dealing with the ethical
dilemma of launching an unencrypted software and convinced his director around his way of
thinking in the whole matter. He might have not delivered the project on the stipulated date,
however, he determined enough not to launch an unreliable software. He thought about the
best interest of the organization and was stick to his decision of not compromising with
quality issues. However, Greg should have
 Presumed the situation of delay beforehand
 Increased his team of engineers to pace up the work
 Informed his director in advance about the necessity of extra time
 Increased his level of thorough understanding of the encryption of the software
 Directed his team members to work faster such that the launching date need not be
postponed
Conclusion
Ethical dilemma in organizations is a common phenomenon faced by the employees
that are dedicated and yet has limitations of their own. In such critical situations of dilemma,
they are advised to think morally and take decisions that will be the most beneficial for
everyone associated with it. ACS is one such organization that has made laws and
professionals of ICT are instructed to keep the laws in mind while taking ethical decisions.
Hence, from the given case study it can be concluded that, Greg abided by the laws of ACS

7ETHICAL DILEMMA OF SOFTWARE ENCRYPTION
and tried to follow each of them to solve the critical situation of launching of an unencrypted
software.

8ETHICAL DILEMMA OF SOFTWARE ENCRYPTION
References
Al-Saggaf, Y., Burmeister, O. K., & Schwartz, M. (2017). Qualifications and ethics
education: the views of ICT professionals. Australasian Journal of Information
Systems, 21.
Burmeister, O. K. (2017). Professional ethics in the information age. Journal of Information,
Communication and Ethics in Society, 15(4), 348-356.
Eide, A., Jenison, R. D., Mickelson, S. K., & Northup, L. L. (2018). Engineering
Fundamentals & Problem Solving. McGraw Hill Education.
Essien, E. D. (2018). Ethical Dilemma of the Digital Divide in the Threshold of Social
Inequalities in Africa. In Ethics and Decision-Making for Sustainable Business
Practices (pp. 73-89). IGI Global.
Ferguson, S., Thornley, C., & Gibb, F. (2016). Beyond codes of ethics: how library and
information professionals navigate ethical dilemmas in a complex and dynamic
information environment. International Journal of Information Management, 36(4),
543-556.
Finnemore, M. (2018). Ethical Dilemmas in Cyberspace. Ethics & International
Affairs, 32(4), 457-462.
Harris, A. L., Lang, M., Yates, D., & Kruck, S. E. (2019). Incorporating ethics and social
responsibility in IS education. Journal of Information Systems Education, 22(3), 1.
McDermid, D. (2015). Ethics in ICT: an Australian perspective. Pearson Higher Education
AU.

9ETHICAL DILEMMA OF SOFTWARE ENCRYPTION
Muhammad, A., Ahamd, F., & Shah, A. (2015). Resolving ethical dilemma in technology
enhanced education through smart mobile devices. International Arab Journal of e-
Technology, 4(1), 25-31.
Reamer, F. G. (2017). Evolving ethical standards in the digital age. Australian Social
Work, 70(2), 148-159.
Vitak, J., Shilton, K., & Ashktorab, Z. (2016, February). Beyond the Belmont principles:
Ethical challenges, practices, and beliefs in the online data research community.
In Proceedings of the 19th ACM Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative
Work & Social Computing (pp. 941-953). ACM.
Weckert, J. (2017). Computer ethics. Routledge.