Introduction to Organizational Information Systems

Information Ethics

• Ethics are the principles and standards that guide our behavior toward other people.
• Information ethics govern the ethical and moral issues arising from the development and use of information technologies, as well as the creation, collection, duplication, distribution, and processing of information itself.
• Business issues related to information ethics include copyright, counterfeit software, digital rights management, intellectual property, patent, and pirated software.

Privacy and Confidentiality

• Privacy is a major ethical issue, referring to the right to be left alone when you want to be, to have control over your own personal possessions, and not to be observed without your consent.
• Confidentiality is the assurance that messages and information are available only to those who are authorized to view them.

Individuals and MIS

• Individuals form the only ethical component of Management Information Systems (MIS).
• Individuals copy, use, and distribute software, search organizational databases for sensitive and personal information, create and spread viruses, hack into computer systems to steal information, and destroy and steal information.

Acting Ethically and Legally

• Acting ethically and legally are not always the same.

Information Misuse

• Information does not care how it is used, it will not stop itself from sending spam, viruses, or highly-sensitive information.
• Tools to prevent information misuse include information management, information governance, information compliance, information secrecy, and information property.

Protecting Intellectual Assets

• Organizational information is intellectual capital that must be protected.
• Information security is the protection of information from accidental or intentional misuse by persons inside or outside an organization.
• Downtime refers to a period of time when a system is unavailable.

Sources of Unplanned Downtime

• Sources of unplanned downtime include bomb threat, burst pipe, chemical spill, construction, corrupted data, earthquake, electrical short, epidemic, equipment failure, evacuation, explosion, fire, flood, fraud, frozen pipe, hail, hurricane, ice storm, insects, lightning, network failure, plane crash, power outage, power surge, rodents, sabotage, smoke damage, snowstorm, static electricity, strike, terrorism, theft, tornado, train derailment, vandalism, vehicle crash, virus, water damage, and wind.

Security Threats

• Hacker is an expert in technology who uses their knowledge to break into computers and computer networks, either for profit or just motivated by the challenge.
• Types of hackers include black-hat hacker, cracker, cyberterrorist, hactivist, script kiddies or script bunnies, and white-hat hacker.
• Virus is software written with malicious intent to cause annoyance or damage, which can include worm, malware, adware, spyware, ransomware, and scareware.

Learn about the ethical issues in the information age, information security, and the difference between hackers and viruses.