Penetration testing professional ethics : a conceptual model and taxonomy

In an environment where commercial software is continually patched to correct security flaws, penetration testing can provide organisations with a realistic assessment of their security posture. Penetration testing uses the same principles as criminal hackers to penetrate corporate networks and thereby verify the presence of software vulnerabilities. Network administrators can use the results of a penetration test to correct flaws and improve overall security. The use of hacking techniques, however, raises several ethical questions that centre on the integrity of the tester to maintain professional distance and uphold the profession. This paper discusses the ethics of penetration testing and presents our conceptual model and revised taxonomy.

Australian hackers and ethics

The aim of the paper is to look at the way hackers act and ways in which society can protect itself. The paper will show the current views and attitudes of hackers in an Australian context. The paper will also include a case study to show how a hacking incident can develop and how technology can be used to protect against hacking.

Ethics and electronic commerce

Ethics is an important element in all aspects of computing, but proves to be a real problem in the development and delivery of electronic commerce systems. There are many aspects of ethics that can affect electronic commerce systems, but perhaps the most notable and worrying to both consumers and developers is that of trust.

In a world where so much information is transmitted and shared electronically, ethical standards that in general society are applied to this medium, are often ignored or forgotten. This paper will discuss some of the ethical considerations that should be considered in electronic commerce and offer the possible solutions that can encourage developers to consider ethical considerations and prove excellence and trust to the consumer.

The use of codes of ethics in the marketplace in corporate Australia : a longitudinal study

The stock market crash of 1987 was a defining moment in Australian corporate life. As a nation, we became acutely aware of the ‘moral bankruptcy’ that had come to permeate our corporate world. The focus on business ethics or the lack of it, in corporate Australia in the late 1980s, prompted this research.

The research for this paper that was first conducted in 1995 and replicated in 2001 focussed on the top 500 companies in Australia. These companies were surveyed on a raft of issues, one of which was their use of their codes of ethics in the marketplace. This paper examines the data sets from 1995 and 2001 and concludes that many of Australia’s largest enterprises have recognised the need for business ethics. As perceived by them, they can and do use their codes of ethics in a positive manner in the marketplace and attribute benefits to this interaction.

Research methods in sales ethics: a review of the empirical literature

From a review of the empirical sales ethics literature, this paper reports findings about some of the research methods used to investigate the decision-making of sales practitioners under ethical conditions. The review identifies that several of the methodological deficiencies raised by previous reviewers of the literature have not been adequately addressed by subsequent researchers. The paper primarily reviews quantitative research studies because of their prevalence in the empirical sales ethics literature, and because studies similar to these have contributed much to marketing ethics theory. This discussion also focuses on sampling and data collection methods, the treatment of respondent and non-response bias, the use of instruments and scales, and the application of the scenario technique. Some suggestions are made that would improve the research methods in each of these areas.

Corporate ethics and new technology: an exploratory investigation of advertising activity and world wide web usage

This study explores the ethical standards and behaviour of Australian advertisers and their usage of new technologies. Although corporate ethics has been an issue in the established media of television advertising for some time, there is little research about how companies are adapting in terms of ethics to the new communication technologies. The consumers’ “right to know” was used as a device to assess the ethical standards and behaviour of companies. Findings suggest that the WWW is not used as a means of communicating corporate ethical standards. Results indicate that the method of communicating requests for information does not influence the likelihood of receiving a response from a company. The results also show differences between the ethical standards and the ethical behaviour of those companies who do use the WWW to communicate ethical statements.

New work ethics? Foucault and the spirit of 21st century capitalism

In a corporate environment that is changing at warp speed, performing consistently at high levels is more difficult and more necessary than ever. Narrow interventions simply aren't sufficient anymore. Companies can't afford to address their employees' cognitive capacities while ignoring their physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being. On the playing field or in the boardroom, high performance depends on how much people renew and recover energy as on how they expend it, on how they manage their lives as much as on how they manage their work. When people feel strong and resilient - physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually - they perform better, with more passion, for longer. They win, their families win, and the corporations that employ them win. (Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz (2001) The Making of a Corporate Athlete, p.128)

A taxonomy of penetration testing ethics

In an environment where commercial software is continually patched to correct security flaws, penetration testing can provide organisations with a realistic assessment of their security posture. Penetration testing uses the same principles as criminal hackers to penetrate corporate networks and thereby verify the presence of software vulnerabilities. Network administrators can use the results of a penetration test to correct flaws and improve overall security. The use of hacking techniques, however, raises several ethical questions that centre on the integrity of the tester to maintain professional distance and uphold the profession. This paper discusses the ethics of penetration testing and presents our conceptual model and revised taxonomy.