Applying Ethical Theory

Question: Write an essay on the topic "Applying ethical theory". Answer: The Scenario: According to the article published in The Sydney Morning Herald, it is found that a professional hackers website is experiencing security breaching. According to Liam Tung, the author of the article, the hackers website is intentionally leaking the name of the buyers of their website. Ethical hacking is very common in Australia and other countries (Pro, addresses, 2015). However, it is found that in this case the buyers of this website are not limited to their ethics. According to their reports, a large number of buyers requested to hack on their spouse's personal gadgets; other requested to increase their grades; even some of them requested to hack their rival's data bases. Initially, this website promised that the information shared by the buyers will be confidential, but Jonathan Mayer (security researcher) revealed that the site is leaking information that not only can help to identify the buyers but also states their motives or type of business. The Stakeholders: This article is very significant since a large number of Australian people are directly affected due to the publication of this article. The stakeholders of this issue are the buyers, who placed their orders on this website and their closely related personals. Thousands of job requests were revealed by the website. Among them, minimum a dozen customers are Australian. The list is embarrassing for the stakeholders especially for the Australians who placed orders to access their husbands mobile or requested to hack Tertiary Institutions Service Centre's website. The mane of the stake holder is "Jarmaa" (from Western Australia) who requested to the university website. Ethical Issues: From this article, a list of actions can be identified that are classified as "unethical." Such as a large number of female buyers were identified from the list who requested to hack their husband's mobile and personal devices, which is unethical. On the other hand, a student of Tertiary Institutions tried to hack the center's website, which cannot be considered as ethical. Another stakeholder is listed in this article, a person from NSW asked to hack rival's customer database. Although a large number of requests came to gain access to their accounts, which were hacked before, can also be considered as unethical. Non-Ethical issues: Although this article is clearly focused on the security breaching and mostly consist the list of unethical actions, it is recognized there are also a handful of non-ethical issues. First of all, it is a personal choice whether someone want to investigate about spouse's affair, which cannot be considered as ethical issues. On the other hand, towards some level asking for help to gain access previously hacked an account to own secure privacy can be considered as a non-ethical issue. Another non-ethical issue that identified in this article is hiring professional hackers through the website and by other means. Consequences: Most of the actions performed by the stakeholders in this article are unethical. It is recognized that the request of spying on the husband is an unethical action and revealing of the truth can lead towards the unwelcome events in marriage life. On the other hand, hacking in to the university website can lead to the termination of the studies and will possibly hamper the career of the student. Hacking in to other's database (competitor's databases) can be considered as a criminal offense. Moreover, hacking is itself a crime regardless of the circumstances, and the accused person may be sentenced to 2-10 years' jail. Ethical Analysis: Consequentialism: The theory of consequentialism is considered as the theory of fundamental ethical judgment, which is helpful to judge what states of the affair are good or bad, depending on the situation (Peterson, 2013). As mentioned in ethical issues, a large number of female buyers were identified from the list, who requested to hack their husbands mobile and personal devices (Shafer-Landau, 2010). This action could be judged as unethical since hacking in to someones personal devices are considered as privacy breaching (Crossan et al., 2013). On the other hand, a student of Tertiary Institutions tried to hack the centres website. Based on the theory of consequentialist theory it can be said that this action is also unethical. The consequences of this action may lead to the ending of the student's career and compromise his or her future (Mingers Walsham 2010). Therefore, this action could be judged as unethical. Another issue that mentioned under ethical issues is a person from NSW asked to hack rival's customer database (Weiss, 2014). Based on the consequentialism, the action cannot be supported. This action is intrinsically bad since the consequences can lead to the destruction of a company's reputation (Bynum, 2010). Although a large number of requests came to gain access to their accounts, which were hacked before, can also be considered as unethical since the states of affairs are intrinsically bad. Options: In this article, the author was completely focused on the unethical issues that are related to the cyber crime. Although in this context all of the stake holders committed unethical actions, it can be said that there may be other options to avoid the unethical actions. The options are as follows- The female buyers can recruit private investigators to investigate the affairs about their husbands and escape the burden of hiring a hacker The students should not hack their canters database regardless of the circumstances and concentrate in their studies to increase their marks. Another stakeholder who asked to hack rival companys database can avoid this action just improving their own business and making research about the rival groups. Conclusions: After reviewing the article on cyber crime, it can be recommended that the easiest step to hire hackers is to take hep from the private investigators or police who have knowledge and authority to access all kind of database. However, this recommendation is only for those who meant to hire the hackers for some semi-ethical tasks and not for unethical one. Taking help from the police is always ethical and posses less threat of revealing identity. Reference: Bynum, T. W. (2010). 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