With more of our data and personal information being uploaded and maintained in electronic form and in the digital setting for faster, easier, and anytime access, it is important to maintain ethics when dealing with personal information that is not your own.  Four of the many ethical issues that may arise when storing electronic information about individuals are: Maintaining Privacy and Confidentiality, Possible Security Breaches, Maintaining Information Accuracy and Integrity, and Failure to report breaches to the affected individuals.

Maintaining privacy and confidentiality is an important ethical issue when dealing with electronic information about individuals because the information disclosed is not for public consumption and the information was given for specific reasons to respective entities. In health care, though you may have a lot of documentation and information given to multiple doctors and facilities, that does not give a specific department the right to browse through all of your information, just the information that pertains to the issue at hand. 

The possibility of security breaches is another important ethical issue when storing electronic information. Security breaches occur when someone either outside of an organization or could be someone within, attempts to gain unauthorized access to an infrastructure’s network and systems with the purpose of retrieving collective personal data or specific personal data with the intent to use it for monetary gain or to exploit a companies’ weaknesses. Attempting security breaches for companies is inevitable, but ensuring that policies and a strong cybersecurity framework are in place, along with frequent training with the employees will mitigate these issues from occurring.

Maintaining information accuracy and integrity means that personal information should at all times, be maintained and not altered unless directed by the individual. Any security breaches that occur make it possible for data to be obtained illegally or altered to invalidate the information.

Failure to report breaches to the affected individuals is one of the most important ethical issues when storing electronic information. If a company or organization is breached for whatever reason, it is the company’s or organization’s responsibility and patient’s right to be informed that their personal information was compromised. This is more important than maintaining a company’s reputation. In addition to being legally obligated to disclose breaches, those breaches could have residual effects on the individual depending on what personal information was compromised. 

Though more ethical issues than this could arise, I feel that these four are the most important issues when dealing with digital data storage. If all these issues are addressed correctly, not only will a company be able to remain reputable, but more importantly, the individual will feel valued because their information is secure and protected.