Summary
Ajax Digital Information (ADI) is a novel business entity in the consulting field, and it faces various market and organizational challenges daily. Recently, its IT management tracked down employees’ abuse of computing privileges. An internal investigation revealed that a significant portion of these unethical and potentially malicious activities are related to the company’s file storage server and access routes to it, namely the intranet and Internet Information Server. ADI management considers this their mistake as they did not timely develop, establish and provide employees with at least a basic set of organizational guidelines related to the operation of IT and professional ethics. This paper presents a collection of professional, ethical standards to provide “high standards of practice and ethical behavior” in both physical and digital workplaces and define “acceptable and unacceptable behaviors” for our workers (Reynolds, 2019, p. 57). Areas covered include computer use, intranet, email services, malware, licensed and free software, and workplace digital privacy.
Computer and Intranet/Company’s Network Usage
Since the major problem is unidentified employees’ abuse of computing privileges, it is necessary to provide fundamental guidelines about the safe use of desktop and mobile computers.
Acceptable Practices
All workers and managers are advised to develop a complex access password for all their workplace devices that includes a variety of alphabetic, numeric, and graphic characters to prevent computer hacking and abuse.
Employees should report to the system administrator and security managers about their colleagues’ atypical and odd activity on the intranet.
Prohibited Practices
Leaving the workplace devices enabled is unsafe for ADI’s private and organizational data.
ADI workers should not write down passwords from their computers, laptops, and mobile devices used for work or containing organizational information on paper or other tangible objects.
Online Content, Proper Email Usage, and Malware
It is possible that unethical use of the company’s digital elements was committed by ADI accounts hacked through phishing or other cybercriminal tricks involving employees’ emails.
Acceptable Practices
The strong password rule for computers also applies to ADI employees’ work email.
If an ADI employee has a hunch or is sure that the operating system of their workplace computer has or is damaged by a virus, they should contact the IT department.
Prohibited Practices
ADI employees should avoid clicking on online links that a firewall or browser the IT department provides identifies as malicious.
One should not click on links given in email messages from unknown and unverified online users and those not connected to the organization or respond to these from computing devices containing the company’s information.
ADI workers are also strongly discouraged from connecting personal portable storage devices to company computers to avoid malware infiltrating its intranet and other networks.
Licensed Software, Shareware, and Software Piracy
The abuse of the intranet and data from company files could also be caused by ADI employees’ incorrect use of the software.
Acceptable Practices
ADI’s management and work team should only use licensed software and shareware approved by its IT department.
Any non-standard or abnormal functioning of the approved licensed and free software integrated into the ADI network must be reported to its IT department.
Prohibited Practices
ADI employees are highly discouraged from installing any software on the hardware used within the company.
ADI workers should avoid using pirated software for work-related and personal computing devices as it contains malware and data leaking programs.
Employee’s Privacy, Workplace Monitoring, and Professional Responsibilities
Well-identified ethical rules preclude further unintentional and deliberate abuse of ADI’s software and networks.
Acceptable Practices
ADI employers should do workplace monitoring for safety reasons, not productivity ones.
Those professionals dealing with ethical dilemmas in IT should prioritize the privacy and safety of the individual.
Prohibited Practices
Any activity aimed at involuntary collecting personal data, such as shoulder surfing, should be considered ethically and professionally wrong.
Reference
Reynolds, G. W. (2019). Ethics in information technology (6th ed.). Cengage.