The Essay On Cyber Crime And The Role Of ICT Professionals Tackles Ethical And Technical Challenges.

This assessment task directly relates to the following three unit intended learning outcomes.

1. Develop and present a resolved group outcome which synthesises an understanding of ethical and socio-technical challenges faced by an ICT professional

2. Evaluate the role of standards, codes of conduct and legislative/regulatory obligations on the level of professionalism of the ICT industry

3. Review the roles and responsibilities of ICT professionals in organisations and society from a range of perspectives such as work-life balance, mentoring and life-long learning 

Ethical and Socio-technical Challenges of ICT professionals

Cyber crime is also known as computer related crime. In layman’s language, it refers to the crime that takes place using a computer system and a network. It involves the criminal activities that are carried out against individuals or multiple individuals with the intention to cause damage to the reputation of the victim so that he or she will suffer from harm which may be psychological or physical, loss, etc. Today technology has developed to a great extent which further increases the chances of cyber crime since it uses modern telecommunication network like the internet, mobile phones, etc to target potential victim.

Since ICT devices and components are mostly interdependent, any form of disruption like cyber crime affects a large number of people. There are various ethical and socio-technical challenges that arise in from of ICT professionals when any criminal activity takes place in the online medium. Some of the vital challenges of these professionals have been highlighted in this section:

Ethical and socio-technical aspects come into picture while performing all activities. When it comes to cyber crime the ethical principals are vital since they are the moral principles that frame an individual’s behaviour that is a critical part and helps to have a sound cyber security defence model or strategy (Bernard, Manick & Klein, 2016).

The cyber security ethics encompasses various types of approaches and frameworks and does not offer just a single solution to the various complex ethical challenges of ICT professionals.

Illegal access – The privacy of information is a huge ethical challenge which is faced by the current ICT professionals. Various attempts of illegal access to personal computer systems are made by hackers which have been widely reported. The people working in ICT industry need to implement proper computer security techniques and strategies in order to prevent unauthorized accesses (Broadhead, 2015).

Theft or undesirable loss of information – Cyber crime also takes place when relevant and vital information is stolen, lost or modified by cyber criminals. This action is done with the intention to harm the users, general public, employees or employers. This harmful activity has ethical connect since the underlying intention is to cause harm to others. It poses a major challenge for ICT professionals since the genuinely of data is lost.

Hacking – In simple words, it refers to the breaking into a computer system without unauthorized access which can cause severe damage to the affected party in form of loss of identity, finance, damaged goodwill, etc. Basically, this cybercrime is committed by hackers when they get full access to all kinds of information (Cilliers, 2017).

Role of Standards, Code of Conduct and regulatory obligations on professionalism in ICT industry

The role of ICT professional is crucial since they need to make the cyber security system stronger which will prohibit these kinds of illegal activities from taking place.

The various legal rules and regulations, standards, code of conduct play a vital role to maintain the best level of professionalism in the ICT industry do that the professionals will be properly equipped to handle challenging issues like cyber crime. Such policies are crucial since they focus on various aspects like the competence and diligence elements of stakeholders, enhancement of quality of IT service, an honest representation of acquired skills and knowledge of the ICT professionals, model that enhances professional development, etc.

It is important to understand that the prime element in this industry is the public interest. The set of rules helps to bring about new safety measures that help to safeguard the interests of the public at large. These aspects also focus on various areas of ICT that enhance the quality of security and have a positive impact on society and the way of life of individuals (Gouda, et al., 2017).

Till now the paper has shown the clear picture regarding the ICT professionals which encompass the activity and processing that they can be able to handle. In that manner, the evidence shows the role of the ICT professionals with respect to sharing the knowledge or any kind of communication transmission. In most of the cases, the ICT professionals face the issues raised due to the cybercrime (Graybill & Varjas, 2017). It is because they are the only personalities who deal in detail with the development of documentation, design, control, maintenance and support of the database. In addition, they also have their role is to carry out the processing of the information systems that ensures the optimal performances of the databases.

Moreover, the basic essentials that should definitely take care of the ICT professionals are the maintenance of data integrity as well as the security. Based on that the facts associated to the cybercrime are described because the cybercrime is such a process that occurs in any kind of situation where the data integrity, as well as the security, is intervened (Wilcoxon, Remley Jr & Gladding, 2013).

The professionals are basically intended to focus on their work by which they can be able to influence on the future demands. In that context, it can be said that the ICT professionals are supposed to work for the growth as well as the maintenance of the sustainability of the smart systems. In relation to that, the current world has been threatened with very serious issues like the cybercrime in which the crime involves the operation and functioning by using the computer networks (Kluge, 2016).

Roles and Responsibilities of the ICT Professionals

While the cybercrime makes the expansion of the computer systems beyond their conventional uses then the presence of the ICT professionals help the organization to save their databases from being hacked. Thus the roles as well as the responsibilities of the ICT professionals, is supposed to provide a sector-specific expertise specifically to solve the issues related to the cyber security whether it is software or hardware. On the flipside, they also have the responsibilities to accomplish the future demands regarding the interconnection of the smart infrastructure systems (Scott, 2016).

In relation to that, it can be said that the more amount of network traffic will definitely pose a threat to their work-life balance. The more amount of workload will result in the emergence of the flexibility within the working environment (Pauleen, Rooney & Intezari, 2016). Thus the flexibility in the working environment will encourage the establishment of good work-life balance which will motivate them in accomplishing in their job roles successfully. Other than that the role and responsibilities will also get enhanced by the application of mentoring (Little, 2016).

It is because they will be regularly guided by the higher professionals in every aspect. By that manner, they will gain experience to bring more innovations in tackling the issues related to the cybercrimes which will eventually help in maintaining their expertise in developing the smart systems. Thus the future will get the highly skilled as well as experienced software professionals with time. In that context, it can also consider that it is a lifelong learning experience because it is one of the vocational education processes which contribute to the career growth (McMenemy, Poulter & Burton, 2014).

It is because the technology is an ever changing fact that keeps on changing with the emergence new advancement so the ICT professional should get aware of all the techniques which will help in handling the issues like the cybercrime. Thus they can only gain it through the regular process of mentoring and lifelong learning. In addition to that, the ICT practitioners need to need to be updated with recent developments in relation to the cybercrime so that they can be able to deal with the issue and fulfil their role and responsibility. Thus the ICT professional are such personnel who take care of the increased demand of the foreseen of the data science as well as the analytical skills which are paired up with the business insight. Moreover, this leads to the situation where they become efficient in managing the multiple network configurations without difficulty (Miller & Cunha, 2016).

Conclusion

This paper illustrated various aspects which reflected the numerous facts in relation to the emerging effects of cybercrime. In relation to that, there is also the description of the ethics or the code of conduct with which the ICT professionals are abided by to fulfil their job responsibilities.

Therefore the paper provided with the conclusion which indicated that ICT professionals need a lifelong learning and regular mentoring to get updated with the recent advancements. But this will only possible when they will have the perfect balance in between their work and life which will eventually result in the enhanced security of the databases as well as their integrity. 

References 

Bernard, J.M., Manick, N. and Klein, M., 2016. Ethical, Legal, and Professional Issues in Mediation and Parent Coordination. Ethics and Professional Issues in Couple and Family Therapy.

Broadhead, R., 2015. Professional, Legal and Ethical Issues in Prescribing Practice. The Textbook of Non-Medical Prescribing, 35.

Cilliers, L., 2017. Evaluation of information ethical issues among undergraduate students: An exploratory study. South African Journal of Information Management, 19(1), pp.1-6.

Gouda, H.N., Flaxman, A., Brolan, C.E., Joshi, R., Riley, I.D., AbouZahr, C., Firth, S., Rampatige, R. and Lopez, A.D., 2017. New challenges for verbal autopsy: Considering the ethical and social implications of verbal autopsy methods in routine health information systems. Social Science & Medicine.

Graybill, E.C. and Varjas, K., 2017. Professional and Ethical Issues from a Multicultural Perspective. Handbook of Multicultural School Psychology: An Interdisciplinary Perspective, p.18.

Kluge, E.H.W., 2016. The Health Information Professional In Ehealth: Ethical Considerations For An Interjuristical Setting. The Online Journal of Science and Technology-April, 6(2).

Little, R.K., 2016. Cross-Cultural Challenges, Consensus, and Opportunities for Advancing the Professional Ethical Integrity of Legal System Actors. Hastings Int'l & Comp. L. Rev., 39, p.95.

McMenemy, D., Poulter, A. and Burton, P., 2014. A handbook of ethical practice: a practical guide to dealing with ethical issues in information and library work. Elsevier.

Miller, I.K. and Cunha, M.I.A., 2016. Exploratory Practice in Continuing Professional Development: Critical and Ethical Issues. Facilitating In-Service Teacher Training for Professional Development, p.61.

Pauleen, D.J., Rooney, D. and Intezari, A., 2016. Big data, little wisdom: trouble brewing? Ethical implications for the information systems discipline. Social Epistemology, pp.1-17.

Scott, E., 2016. Examining The Legal, Professional And Ethical Issues Of Gaining Patient Consent In The United Kingdom Uk. Multicultural Society And Aging-Challenges For Nursing In Europe, p.46.

Wilcoxon, A., Remley Jr, T.P. and Gladding, S.T., 2013. Ethical, legal, and professional issues in the practice of marriage and family therapy. Pearson Higher Ed