Ethical Implications of Cyber Crime: A Case Study of Verizon

This essay examines the ethical dimensions of cyber crime, focusing on the Verizon Wireless data breach of July 2017. It begins with an introduction to Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and its associated security risks. The essay then analyzes the Verizon case study through the lens of four classical ethical theories: utilitarianism, deontology, virtue ethics, and contract theory. It argues that the data breach, caused by a partner's negligence, violated ethical principles across all four frameworks. The essay concludes that the incident underscores the importance of ethical conduct in the cyber world, emphasizing the need for stringent data protection measures and accountability to prevent future breaches and protect customer data. References to relevant literature are provided at the end of the essay.

Running head: ETHICAL ISSUES IN CYBER CRIME
Ethical Issues in Cyber Crime
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author’s Note:

1
ETHICAL ISSUES IN CYBER CRIME
Introduction
Information and Communications Technology or ICT is the extension of IT or
Information Technology. It acts as the unified communications with the amalgamation of various
wireless signals and telephone lines with storage, software and audiovisual systems. It allows the
users to manipulate, store, access and transmit various information (Niebuhr, 2013). In spite of
providing a huge amount of benefit to the society, ICT has also welcomed several cyber attacks
and security breaches in the modern technological world. These attacks and breaches are
extremely dangerous for the cyber world. These breaches are also threat to ethical world.
The following essay outlines a detailed description of the case study of Verizon Wireless
of United States of America. This cyber crime took place in July 2017. This was absolutely non
ethical for the cyber world. The essay provides the detailed discussion about the four classical
theories of ethics. The case study is described with these four classical theories.
Discussion
Verizon Wireless Data Breach
Verizon Wireless is the telecommunications organization of United States of America
offering various wireless products and services. There was a leakage of data in the organization
that caused a dangerous cyber attack ("Verizon customer information exposed in data breach",
2017). This was caused because of the partner of Verizon wireless. They did not take care of the
data and the data was leaked in cloud. The reason for this cyber crime was the cloud-based
repository files that was non configured. Data of approximately 14 million clients were leaked in
the cloud. All of them were customers of Verizon.

2
ETHICAL ISSUES IN CYBER CRIME
Utilitarianism Theory
This is one of the four classical theories of ethics. The Utilitarianism Theory states that
the best activity is that particular activity, which maximizes utility. This theory can be defined as
the summation of satisfaction that can be obtained from a utility. This does not count the amount
of suffering an individual has faced during that activity (Arntzenius, 2014). There are two types
of utilitarianism to maximize the utility. They are the total utilitarianism and the average
utilitarianism. These two assumptions are made on the utility of the situation that is, how much
utilization can be obtained from that situation. In this particular case, Verizon Wireless has faced
a cyber attack. The data of their clients were leaked in the cloud and the partner of Verizon did
this. They have utilized the cloud server for leaking all the data. These data contained all the
details about customers including the account name, pin numbers and all the confidential
information. This is a non-ethical act (Crimmins, 2017). The confidential data should not be
breached at all. The partner of Verizon should be put behind bars and serious actions should be
taken. The utilitarianism theory does not apply in this situation. The situation does not gain any
utility and thus is non-ethical according to the four classical theories of ethics.
Deontology Theory
The Deontology Theory is the standard position in ethics, which takes the decision
according to the morality of a particular activity that is based on the rules. This theory can also
be defined as the ethics based on obligations and duties. The moral obligation forces an
individual to act perfectly in any situation. This type of obligation depends on either internal or
external sources (Chen & Schonger, 2017). This theory focuses on the fact that a person should
be morally ethical in nature no matter what situation arises. The external sources are the religious
rules, universal rules, legal laws, whereas, the internal sources are the cultural and personal

3
ETHICAL ISSUES IN CYBER CRIME
values. The internal sources mostly depend on the character of the individual, the surrounding
where his upbringing has taken place and the lessons he has got from family, friends or
acquaintances. In this particular case study of Verizon Wireless, the partner of Verizon leaked
the data, which caused tremendous problems to both Verizon and its customers. This is ethically
wrong according to the Deontology theory of ethics (Lazar, 2017). The partner should not have
leaked the data. All the customers have faced tremendous problems due to this leakage.
Moreover, all the account details of the customers were leaked, this could have been a major
problem in future for the customers. When an organization is dealing with its clients, it is the
responsibility of that organization to give their customers a safe and secured surrounding.
According to deontology theory of ethics, the partner of Verizon Wireless should have been
morally ethical. It was their duty to protect the customers (Dewey, 2016). The opposite
happened. They backed off from their duty. They leaked the data, which was ethically wrong, as
well as a dangerous cyber crime.
Virtue Theory
This is third theory of the four classical theories of ethics. Virtue ethics is a type of ethics,
which focuses on the character of an individual as the major component for ethical thinking.
Virtue ethics states that when an individual taken an ethical decision or solves an ethical
dilemma, he takes the decision from this own thinking (Van Hooft, 2014). This thinking is
completely controlled by the character of the individual. If the individual is good from heart and
has good character, he will definitely take a good decision. However, if the individual has a
darker side, he might take a negative decision. In this case study, it is not known that why the
partner of Verizon Wireless has leaked the data. There is a high chance that they did not take the
decision from their heart and may have a strong reason (Audi, 2012). However, according to

4
ETHICAL ISSUES IN CYBER CRIME
Virtue theory of four classical theories of ethics, they took the decision and since the character of
the individual is the major component of for ethical thinking, it can be said that the partner of
Verizon wireless does not have a ethical character.
Contract Theory
This is the fourth classical theory of ethics. According to this particular theory, the moal
values of an individual depend on the presence of a contract (Fried, 2015). A contract is an
agreement that brings out the ethical and moral regulations of an individual. Several individuals
form the society. If the human beings will not behave properly and ethically, the society will not
reach success and will not be able to meet its goals and objectives. The contract is a sign of
motivation and ethics for all the employees of an organization. it promotes the values of ethics
within all the employees (Niebuhr, 2013). In this case study, there was a contract between the
organization and the clients of that organization. However, they were not able to protect the
contract and thus was ethically wrong towards their clients.
Conclusion
Therefore, from the above discussion it can be concluded that information and
communications technology or acts as the unified communications with the amalgamation of
various wireless signals and telephone lines with storage, software and audiovisual systems. It
allows the users to manipulate, store, access and transmit various information. In spite of
providing a huge amount of benefit to the society, ICT has also welcomed several cyber attacks
and security breaches in the modern technological world. These attacks and breaches are
extremely dangerous for the cyber world. These breaches are also threat to ethical world. The
above essay focuses on the case study of Verizon Wireless organization. Data was breached and

5
ETHICAL ISSUES IN CYBER CRIME
leaked in the cloud by the partner of Verizon. This is ethically wrong. The essay describes the
case study with the help of the four classical theories of ethics.

6
ETHICAL ISSUES IN CYBER CRIME
References
Arntzenius, F. (2014). Utilitarianism, decision theory and eternity. Philosophical
Perspectives, 28(1), 31-58.
Audi, R. (2012). Virtue ethics as a resource in business. Business Ethics Quarterly, 22(2), 273-
291.
Chen, D. L., & Schonger, M. (2017). Social preferences or sacred values? theory and evidence of
deontological motivations.
Crimmins, J. E. (Ed.). (2017). The Bloomsbury encyclopedia of utilitarianism. Bloomsbury
Publishing.
Dewey, J. (2016). Ethics. Read Books Ltd.
Fried, C. (2015). Contract as promise: A theory of contractual obligation. Oxford University
Press, USA.
Lazar, S. (2017). Deontological Decision Theory and Agent-Centered Options. Ethics, 127(3),
579-609.
Niebuhr, R. (2013). Moral man and immoral society: A study in ethics and politics. Westminster
John Knox Press.
Van Hooft, S. (2014). Understanding virtue ethics. Routledge.

7
ETHICAL ISSUES IN CYBER CRIME
Verizon customer information exposed in data breach. (2017). Fox Business. Retrieved 13
September 2017, from http://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/07/13/security-lapse-
leaks-data-from-millions-verizon-customers.html