- Describe the crimes they cover and the punishments
- India is a developing economy and country and major business involve I.T. Therefore, there are strict laws that regulate what I.T users can do using a laptop or computer. Although there are many laws for various crimes, I have outlined the most serious and common issues that people are guilty of in India. The first law being hacking with a computer system. If a person causes damage (through hacking) to another person’s system, they will be fined with an amount of five hundred thousand rupees and an addition imprisonment up to three years. Using another person’s password for any reason at all will land you imprisonment up to three years and a fine of one hundred thousand rupees. Cheating in anyway whether it is for a test or cheating taxes, imprisonment can be up to three years and holds a fine of one hundred thousand rupees. India is also an extremely conservative country and Indians take their values extremely seriously, that is why there is a fine of two hundred thousand rupees and imprisonment up to five years if one publishes private images of others with or without their consent. The punishment applies to the person who uploaded the images as well as the person who gave the photos. Finally, publishing child porn or predating children online holds a fine of one million rupees and imprisonment up to five years in Federal Prison. As you can see, the computer laws are strict and when in India, one must obey them.
- Explain one problem that might arise from having different global laws relating to computer security
- The main problem is that there is not a single, universal handbook that holds all the rules to computer security. Because of this issue, if one decides to familiarize oneself to the laws of specific countries, they would be virtually useless in others as each country has their own set of computer rules. For example, in India, publishing inappropriate images of anybody with or without consent is illegal and has harsh punishments (fine and three years in prison.) On the other hand, in countries such as Canada, publishing inappropriate images of anyone is legal but only with their consent. If someone in Canada that chose pornography as a profession and decided to do business in India, they would need to familiarize themselves with the law beforehand otherwise they will be spending three years in Indian federal prison and will also be required to pay a fine. Not only can businesses be affected by having so many laws, individuals will be affected to. Once again, in India the computer laws are extremely strict and will take all precautions to avoid computer crime, that is why the use of any password other than your own can land you prison time, while in most other countries if there is a valid reason then it is let by. This shows us that once again having too many laws can destroy the lives of innocent individuals. The only solution to this issue is to have standardized rules and regulations with clear consequences for various crimes. Although it may sound simple, cultures and traditions also play a role when deciding computer laws, for example, in the UAE certain websites are banned as it opposes the islamic religion. The same can be said for other countries. Computer laws are necessary as society's usage of technology and computers is increasing rapidly, but if the laws can be standardized, then it would be simpler for all I.T system users.
Writing - Security #2
Article - read this article and respond to the following:
a) Explain how the IT system works and what the social/ethical implications might be (4 marks)
- Google is facing trouble of the collection of biometric data. They seem to be collecting it by using facial recognition programs. The tech giant had a lawsuit filed against it because of the Google’s popular app, Google Photos. This application collects data and analyzes facial expressions and features of those who are included in the picture. Google then uses this analysis and collects data. The most obvious social/ethical problem seen in this article is the issue of Privacy and anonymity. People that may have appeared in the pictures frame by accident and people that have no relation to the owner of the picture will have their facial features uploaded on the world wide web and they also unknowingly have given data to Google. They privacy and anonymity are completely gone.
- The main risk if this system was applied by law enforcement is that people can be framed and awarded for the things they did and did not do. For example, if someone was accidentally in a picture that was used in a crime scene, law enforcement would hassle them and make their lives much harder even though they did nothing wrong other than being in the image. People can also be given credit for something they did not do.
- Benefits
- Crime-fighting tool of sorts
- Beneficial for corporations and customers because of efficiency
- Drawbacks
- Privacy and anonymity
- Abuse of data collection
Discuss the benefits and drawbacks of using such a system
- Facial Recognition technology is going to be the next tool that is will be used for various authenticating purposes. Although at the surface facial recognition seems like a secure method of authentication, it still has two major drawbacks. The first and most serious being the loss of privacy and anonymity. As I mentioned previously, privacy and anonymity will both be lost to some degree. People that unknowingly and unwillingly appear in strangers pictures will have their facial features analyzed against their will. Other that like to stay anonymous would be exposed. All this is caused by the facial recognition technology. Another drawback is the abuse of data that corporations will gain through these programs. For example, a large amount of profits earned by facebook is through the selling of data. Facebook sells its users data to other companies so that they get a wider customer base by directly communicating with facebook users. If large corporations like facebook sell our personal data for money, what is to say they don’t do other things with it? This abuse can lead to loss in privacy once again. There are positives to this type of technology as well. The first benefit is that facial recognition technology is a crime fighting tool of sorts. Wanting people that are in hiding, can be brought to the light and arrested if their facial features are analyzed and match the description given about them. Police often waste a lot of their time looking for criminals. This way the task will be relatively easier. The second advantage is that it helps businesses approach and communicate with clients much easier. It is beneficial for a company to have more information about us as it allows them to customize their services and products as well as their marketing strategies. It also definitely beneficial to the customers as we do not want to waste time giving this information to the companies. In some cases, the disadvantages can be seen as advantages and the advantages can be seen as disadvantages. Overall, facial recognition technology will make life more efficient but in order for it to happen, a certain amount of privacy will have to be given up.
Writing #3
Discuss appropriate security measures a small business should employ to safeguard themselves
A small startup often thinks of security as something that is not as important as finding investors to pitch to. Unfortunately this is not the case. Security is extremely important because it ensures the safety of a business’s finance and operational targets. For a small company, there would be four security measures that should be taken in order to safely secure data. The first and most common measure, would be to encrypt all data and messages. Encryption, is the safest way to achieve data security as one would need a security token to decrypt this data. If the manager of the business gives out security tokens to the employees, only they can access them. This ensures a strong degree of security (as long as the employees are loyal). The business can also use a secure socket layer, this creates an encrypted link between the client and the server. This way, no external parties can view and corrupt the data. Managers should also ensure that in any program that the company uses, there is at least one root user available. A root user is anyone that has complete access to a software or network preferably someone high in the corporate ladder. All these devices can help ensure proper security in a small start-up business.
Investigation
1. Identify the area of impact the scenario relates to
As technology evolves, there are many risks that stakeholders can be affected by. The first and foremost being hacking and phishing. As more citizens start buying into technological goods they are more prone these cyber crimes. Businesses are also at risk to cyber crimes as their online identity is seen on their websites. Hackers can completely take advantage of a website and twist and turn it to their will. Finally, governments are also at a serious risk when it comes down to cyber crimes. If Criminal databases and government websites are hacked, huge uproars will be caused and society will be heavily affected. Although online crimes do not seem as a large threat to the global economy as whole, individuals, business and even countries can be ruined through hacking, therefore it is best to safeguard oneself especially if you are amongst the listed stakeholders.
2. Identify all ITGS terminology and phrases (IT and social/ethical)
The most common social and ethical problems seen with cyber crime are the following, security, privacy and anonymity and Intellectual property. Security is a big issues as hacking allows one to gain access to data from the victim. Bank accounts and passwords are all at risk. The victim’s privacy and anonymity is also at risk as identity theft and identity fraud are to execute online because all of our information is stored on various databases which are not difficult to access. Whilst hacking, hackers can also gain access to your intellectual property and take credit for it. It would be best to encrypt all data and use a secure socket layer to secure data from you and the network that you are using.
3. Describe one ITGS social/ethical concern in the article.
3 Social/ethical concerns were described in previous question.
4. Describe the relationship of the main stakeholders to the IT system.
The core of this relationship starts with the citizens of the world. Without educated and understanding citizens, there would be no successful business and no legitimate governments to distribute the power. This does hold an advantage as without educated citizens, technology would not advance and hacking and other sorts of cyber crime will also be prevented. Citizens use laptops and mobile phones and so do businesses. This allows hackers to gain access through methods like smishing and phishing. Because society is now so dependent on Technology, hackers find it easy to gain access to data.
5. Explain the relationship between the IT system and the social/ethical issue identified in question 3.
Through various hacking methods, hackers have the ability to leak extremely personal information. This affects the victim’s privacy and anonymity. For example, a hacker can use phishing to gain access to one's social security number and identification. He or she can lure a victim to what seems like a harmless website, and then trick them into download a virus that can directly send information to the hacker who now has access to personal information. Furthermore, this will evolve into identity theft and has the possibility of completely ruining one's life.