Real world ethical dilemmas

What if your perusal of random documents reveals company trade secrets? What if you later leave the company and go to work for a competitor? Is it wrong to use that knowledge in your new job? Would it be “more wrong” if you printed out those documents and took them with you, than if you just relied on your memory?

What if the documents you read showed that the company was violating government regulations or laws? Do you have a moral obligation to turn them in, or are you ethically bound to respect your employer’s privacy? Would it make a difference if you signed a non-disclosure agreement when you accepted the job?

IT and security consultants who do work for multiple companies have even more ethical issues to deal with. If you learn things about one of your clients that might affect your other client(s), where does your loyalty lie?

Then there are money issues. The proliferation of network attacks, hacks, viruses, and other threats to their IT infrastructures have caused many companies to “be afraid, be very afraid.” As a security consultant, it may be very easy to play on that fear to convince companies to spend far more money than they really need to. Is it wrong for you to charge hundreds or even thousands of dollars per hour for your services, or is it a case of “whatever the market will bear?” Is it wrong for you to mark up the equipment and software that you get for the customer when you pass the cost through? What about kickbacks from equipment manufacturers? Is it wrong to accept “commissions” from them for convincing your clients to go with their products? Or what if the connection is more subtle? Is it wrong to steer your clients toward the products of companies in which you hold stock?

Another ethical issue involves promising more than you can deliver, or manipulating data to obtain higher fees. You can install technologies and configure settings to make a client’s network more secure, but you can never make it completely secure. Is it wrong to talk a client into replacing their current firewalls with those of a different manufacturer, or switching to an open source operating system – which changes, coincidentally, will result in many more billable hours for you – on the premise that this is the answer to their security problems?

Here’s another scenario: what if a client asks you to save money by cutting out some of the security measures that you recommended, yet your analysis of the client’s security needs show that sensitive information will be at risk if you do so? You try to explain this to the client, but he/she is adamant. Should you go ahead and configure the network in a less secure manner? Should you “eat” the cost and install the extra security measures at no cost to the client? Should you refuse to do the job? Would it make a difference if the client’s business were in a regulated industry, and implementing the lower security standards would constitute a violation of HIPAA, GLB, SOX or other laws?

Reference:
http://www.windowsecurity.com/articles/Ethical-Issues-IT-Security-Professionals.html