ethics, accountability & regulation iact 918 july 2004 gene awyzio sitacs university of...

Ethics, Accountability & Regulation

IACT 918 July 2004

Gene Awyzio

SITACS University of Wollongong

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Overview

• As economics continue to move towards the Information Age, issues such as the privacy and security of information for which organisations are responsible emerge as an integral part of the network & telecommunications management role.

• A non-legal discussion of the issues as they apply to Network Management

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Ethics

• Definitions of Ethics

– The science of morals (1602)

– Science of human duty in the widest extent (1690)

– From Greek, ethos, meaning character & manners

• Modern context:

– Nowadays often seen as the self-regulating Codes of Conduct of professional bodies

• Eg: The medical professions’ HYPOCRATIC OATH

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Ethics in Telecommunications• Codes of Conduct

eg: from the West Australian Internet Association:

– (1) I, as an internet provider, shall not:• (b) knowingly permit a user to engage in criminal activity using access to

my system, provided that such activity is identified by competent law enforcement authorities.

– (2) I, as an internet provider shall:• (a) attempt to establish the name and age of all users with accounts on

my system by reference to proof of name and address on application

• (c) attempt to safeguard the privacy of my users and their data in all respects subject to reasonable actions necessary to ensure proper operation of my system and compliance with this Code.

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Problems with ethical codes

knowingly permit a user to engage in criminal activity using access to my system …

attempt to establish the name and age of all users …

And also …

Attempt to safeguard the privacy of my users and their data …

A German court found the CEO of CompuServe (Germany) guilty of distributing child pornography

Are these conflicting goals?

Sometimes it is impossible to achieve all the aims of a Code of Conduct equally without making compromises

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Problems with ethical codes• All rules, such as ethical codes, are systems• ALL structured systems lend themselves to

maximisation … – eg: basketball attracts tall players

– Lawyers are trained and paid to influence the interpretation of rules systems, to find the most convenient meanings for their clients

• Most industry codes are self-regulating

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Issues

• Privacy

• Security

• Responsibility - Accountability

• These are inter-related and must NOT be considered in isolation from each other.

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Privacy

• Personal Privacy

– We believe we have a right to privacy

– We expect governments, institutions, corporations and individuals to respect our privacy

– We expect that we have a right to examine any information held about ourselves

• medical records, credit references etc.

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Privacy

• Who holds what sort of data about you?• Australian Federal Government debate over

regulating corporate access to private details- will it destroy the telemarketing industry?

• Government bodies are not allowed to collate their databases, but private organisations may, there is no law against it.

• Governments are outsourcing their administrative functions to private groups

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Privacy

• Do Governments need access to private data to enforce the law?

– National security

– Organised crime

– Drug trafficking

– Child pornography etc.

• Is that why governments don’t like people using the best encryption systems?

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The Corporate Scenario

• Corporations vs. Customers

– Market surveys

– Demographics

– Telemarketing databases

– Leaving your digiprints behind

– “Intelligent Agents” on websites

• Eg: Amazon & buying trends

Would the level & quality of service, suffer if corporations could NOT collect customer data and follow trends?

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The Corporate Scenario

• Employers vs. Employees– Several court cases (esp. in USA) upheld the right of the

employer to invade the privacy of the employee …

• Searching employee cars, desks

• Enforcing “lifestyle rules”

– Trade Unions & employee rights: good or bad?

• Video surveillance, phone recording

• Loss prevention, OH&S, training purposes

Are ‘management softwares’ that monitor & track employee computer use an invasion of privacy or a necessary tool?

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Contradictions

• From the AOL Privacy Policy:

– Section B (iii) …“[AOL] do not release Members’ telephone numbers, credit card numbers, or checking account numbers (or other Individual Information, such as navigational or transactional information…”

– Section C (i) …“We may collect and store certain navigational and transactional information, such as data on the choices you make from the range of available services or merchandise, and the times and ways you use AOL and the internet…”

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Security

• Increase in use of public domain networks within organisations

– intranets, extranets, VPN

• Moves towards end-user services, such as

– Provision of government information

– Full scale e-commerce & I-commerce

• B2B is the biggest growth area in the Internet

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Security• Physical Security

– Ensure that the physical elements of the network are protected. Includes routers, switches, servers, computer rooms etc.

• Network Security– Ensure that access to the network is controlled and

the network protected from unauthorised access.• Content Security

– Ensure the integrity and confidentiality of the contents on the network, both stored and message traffic.

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Security - Physical

• Most network violations come from insider attack

– recent CERT statistics show this may be changing

• A substantial proportion of enterprises’ information assets reside on users desktop computers

• After their initial creation, networks often evolve outside the knowledge of network management

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Security - Network

• Most users leave their computers ‘logged-in’ all day

• Procedures which involve users changing passwords every n-days are unpopular

– Especially among senior management

– Often result in simplistic passwords

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Security – Contents

• Many network traffic monitoring tools permit access to the content of messages

• Encryption makes many problems

– Needs universal adoption

– Governments do not encourage top-end encryption systems in private hands

• Data encryption by individuals is actually illegal in some countries

• Security/privacy/ethics are interlinked

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Network Management Responsibilities• Ensuring the information assets of the

organisation are protected from unlawful activity

• Ensuring that the integrity of the recorded data are maintained

• Compliance with governmental regulation

• Protection of intellectual property rights• Protection of individual privacy

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Network Management Responsibilities• Password administration• Monitor network/internet usage• Training & mentoring (skills assessment)• Email monitoring

– Offensive or illegal language, material

– Protection of corporate secrets

• Pressure from senior management• Documentation vs. Privacy

– Eg: fault reporting & operator identification

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Responsibility vs. Accountability• Self Regulation, can it work?• Responsibility:

– A trust or obligation or duty

• Accountability

– Being answerable or liable

• BUT, are those held accountable always the same as those who are responsible?

– Beware of scapegoating

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Hypotheticals• A User asks you to suggest a good password?• Emergency access to a Users files whilst they are

away on leave and cannot be contacted• Management asks you to identify “problem users” –

with highest error rates or lowest skills• The employees union decides that server-side virus

checking of incoming emails invades their privacy• Marketing section requests full User details for their

database• A User refuses to clear low-priority emails from their

inbox but the system is becoming congested

Influences on the Network

IACT 918 July 2004

Gene Awyzio

SITACS University of Wollongong

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Overview

• Shapes are defined by their borders• The balloon analogy:

– The shape of the balloon is a balance between :

• The INTERNAL forces pushing out, and

• The EXTERNAL forces pushing inwards

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The Strategic Network Plan

• In order to plan effectively, you need as much information as possible

• You need to know the SHAPE of your environment

• You need to know the forces and influences acting on you

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The Crouch Diagram

Why are we in business?

How do we do business?

Where are we now?

Where do we want to be?

How do we get there?

How will we know we’ve arrived?

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The Crouch Diagram



Where are we now?




• Vision• Driving Force• Mission

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The Crouch Diagram



Where are we now?




• Values• Climate• Culture

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The Crouch Diagram



Where are we now?




• Strengths• Weaknesses• Opportunities• Threats• Competition• Constraints

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The Crouch Diagram



Where are we now?




• Strategy

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The Crouch Diagram



Where are we now?




• Tactics• Resources

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The Crouch Diagram



Where are we now?




GAPANALYSIS

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The Crouch Diagram



Where are we now?




• Co-Ordination• Budgets• Controls• Reports• Milestones

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The Crouch Diagram

• For network management, I believe the most important questions from Crouch are:

Where are we now?


You need information:SWOT, Constraints & Reports

WHAT INFLUENCES ARE SHAPING YOU?

= How are things now?

= Are we going where we want?

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You can’t have it all

• The Eldridge Axiom

– Consider: QUALITY, SPEED, COST

– You can achieve any one or two of these,~ But never all three at the same time!

Speed

Quality

Cost

What other tri-valued equalities can you think of …?

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External Influences

• Government

– Regulations

– Deregulation

– Taxation

– Ownership

• Standards

– DeJure vs. DeFacto

– Open vs. Proprietary

– Interoperability & Compatability

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External Influences

• Customers

– Market trends – track, adapt & serve

– Perceived vs. Actual needs

• Enemies

– Theft & Vandalism

– Hackers & Corporate Crime

– Competition

– Malfunction / Accident / Disaster

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External Influences

• The Economy

– Stock prices & Currency fluctuation

– Investor’s agendas

• Vendors

– Support levels

– Tech compatibility, expandability

– Contract control

– Devaluation / Obsolescence

– Lease vs. Buy ?

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Internal Influences

• Management

– Style - hierarchies

– Policies

• Staff

– Skill levels

– Functions/tasks – different needs

– Physical locations

– Interrelations, interaction & interdependence

– Industrial relations

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Internal Influences

• Physical factors

– Building infrastructure (partially external)

– Physical Security

• Users (your staff are clients of the network)

– A kind of “internal customer”

– Needs

– Expectations

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Internal Influences

• Support systems

– Help-desk

– Standardised Procedures

– Documentation

– Skills assessment

– Training

– Incentives

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Impact of Influences

• You could drive anywhere it it wasn’t for:

– Petrol & Running costs

– Road rules – Police!

– Hills, Curves, Gravity … blah blah blah

• Influences are quite often seen as CONSTRAINTS & THREATS

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Impact of Influences

• You would have a boring car if it wasn’t for:

– Technological improvement

– Road maintenance

– Market forces pushing new designs … etc

• Influences can also provide you with OPPORTUNITIES !

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Internal vs. External

• What control do you have over influences?

• Which is more important

– Internal or

– External?

• Both are important as BOTH act to determine the size, shape and position of your network/organisation.

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Dynamic Forces

• Influences are constantly changing

• The forces acting on your network are dynamic, constantly changing

• You must stay aware of the vectors

• If you assume there will be no change you will not to be ready when change comes

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The Analogy

• Remember the Balloon?

– If the forces are balanced,the balloon stays static

– Usually however, we will undergo changes in size, shape &/or position

– These changes may not be to your liking !

• So be aware of the influences acting on you and your network/organisation !

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The Real World

• We almost never get balance as Influences usually don’t come in “matched sets”

• Actually we often DON’T WANT balance! • Most businesses/networks are NOT static• Most businesses DO WANT changes … but

want to be able to control them !

• DOCUMENT & TRACK INFLUENCES !!

ethics, accountability & regulation iact 918 july 2004 gene awyzio sitacs university of...

Documents

privacy personal privacy

selfregulating slide

network management slide

ethical codes

industry codes

private data

ethics definitions of

security of information