One ethical issue that can arise from storing electronic information about individuals is fraud and theft. Systems may be abused for fraud and theft by either automating conventional methods or exploiting new ones. System fraud and theft can be conducted by both authorized users and outsiders. Fraudulent activity is typically carried out by authorized system administrators and users who are familiar with the system’s resources and weaknesses. While money gain is a key motive for fraud and theft, other systems are also vulnerable. Some of these approaches are: Social Media, Social Engineering, and Advanced Persistent Threat.

The second ethical issue that can arise is insider threat. Employees can provide an insider danger to a company due to their knowledge of the systems and applications and the potential for causing harm or disruption. Employee sabotage, typically motivated by knowledge or fear of termination, is a major concern for corporations and their systems. To prevent employee sabotage, immediately block the dismissed employee’s access to IT infrastructure and escort them off corporate premises. Some examples of this are: Destroying hardware or facilities, Planting malicious code that destroys programs or data, Entering data incorrectly, holding data, or deleting data.

The third ethical issue is malicious hackers. Malicious hackers are individuals or groups that utilize their knowledge of systems, networking, and programming to unlawfully access, harm, or steal information. They are a large class of antagonistic threats that may be divided into smaller ones based on the malevolent hacker’s unique acts or aims. Some of the subcategories are attackers, Bot-Network, and criminal groups.

The last ethical issue is malicious code. Malicious code includes viruses, Trojan horses, worms, logic bombs, and other software designed to attack a platform. A virus is a code segment that replicates itself by attaching copies of itself to other executables. When a user runs the new host software, it executes a new copy of the virus. The virus may have a “payload” that triggers when certain circumstances are met. A trojan horse is a software that completes a desired goal but also incorporates unanticipated and undesired features. Worms is a self-replicating software that does not need a host program or user interaction. Worms typically exploit network services to spread to other host computers. Then finally, logic bombs are malicious code that involves inserting instructions into a program or system to perform a malicious purpose at a predetermined time or situation.