Ethics And Implications Of Computer Virus Information Technology Essay

Ethics And Implications Of Computer Virus development Technology attemptIntroductionA computing machine calculating machine computer virus is a program that executes when an septic program is penalize. It is capable of reproducing itself and usually capable of ca utilise great trauma to files or other programs on the same figurer. Like biological viruses, electronic computer viruses peck pass on quickly and argon often difficult to eradicate. They can attach themselves to just about each type of file, and argon spread by replicating and being sent from 1 individual to a nonher. These ar ace of the few harmless viruses, simply replicating and spreading to juvenile administrations. There are a couple of different types of computer virusesBoot- orbit virusesParasitic virusesMulti-partite virusesMacro virusesThese classifications include into account the different ways in which the virus can spoil different parts of a system. The manner in which each of these types ope rates has one thing in common any virus has to be executed in order to operate (Lammer V., 1993)How in different ways those computer viruses can affect the IT manufacturing and the society. What salmagundi of implications they might cause? What kind of motivation motivates them to develop these computer viruses? Are they aware of the honorable liaison surrounding their maturement? These are the issues that will be discussing in this report. archivesMany claims fork over been made for the existence of viruses prior to the 1980s, but so far these claims have not been accompanied by proof. The Core Wars schedule contests did involve self-replicating computer code, but usually within a structured and faux environment. It was not until the end of the decade (and 1987 in particular) that knowledge of real viruses became widespread, fifty-fifty among protective covering experts. For many years boot sector infectors and file infectors were the only when types of common viruses. T he boot sector virus, dubbed the cBrain, was first-class honours degree incarnated written back in January 1986, considered to be the first computer virus for MS-DOS. It was programmed to infect the boot sector of storage media formatted with the DOS File Allocation Table (FAT) file system (Mary Landesman, 2000).In the early 1990s, virus writers started experimenting with various functions intended to defeat detection, among these were polymorphism. polymorphic viruses are more difficult to detect by scanning as each copy of the virus looks different than other copies. Basically, polymorphic code mutates slice keeping the original algorithm intact. Another introduction in the 1990s was the macro and account book viruses, they were initially confined to word touch files, particularly files associated with the Microsoft Office Suite. However, the inclusion of programming capabilities eventually led to script viruses in many objects that would normally be considered to contain data only, such(prenominal) as Excel spreadsheets, Power Point presentation files, and email kernels. This point led to greatly increased demands for computer resources among antiviral systems. Email viruses became the subject field new form in the late 1990s and early 2000s, and while it is very visible and so tend to be indentified within a short space of time, but many are macros or scripts and so generate many variants (John Wiley, 2004).Computer morality and computer virusesWhat impact did computer viruses have on ethical motive in the computer community? With the enlargement of the number of computer viruses, this waits an unanswered question. In the years since viruses first appeared in the MS/PC-DOS computing environment, they have grown in twain numbers and complexity at an alarming rate. They have be uprise not only commonplace, but in like manner extremely difficult to defend against. The virus creators have designed, compiled and released encrypting viruses, multipa rtite viruses, stealth viruses and viruses employing encryption techniques so bizarre that it warrants speedy concern. The scope of the problem has grown to the point where computer users are horrific for answers to their questions sand solutions to the computer virus dilemma (Ferguson, 1992).Thecomputerethics spot at present is as distorted and convoluted as it could have ever been imagined. Some of the more disturbing activities in the virus breeding channels newly, have been irresponsible postings ofsource code, DEBUG scripts of live viruses and general reduce ofcomputerethics and morals. To complicate matters, virus exchange bulletin Board Systems (BBS) have cropped up where viruses and virussource codeare freely exchanged. The people who engage in these activities have successfully shown their disregard for the remainder of the computing frequent. Perhaps these individuals have not given full thought to the consequences of their actions. By allowing livecomputerviruses to freely filter into the public domain, they are ultimately responsible for any damage inflicted, either like a shot or indirectly, due to their negligence or disregard (Ferguson, 1992).According to the study of (Gordon, 1994) in which she has examined the ethics of virus writers using Kohlbergs ethical ride, the observation shows that the virus writers are not a homogenous group, since they vary in age, fostering level, economical level, background, manner of communication, perspective of their society, and have different preferences. All of the foregoing will lead to different modes of thinking and different motivations behind their behavior. The childish and college virus writers are within the norms of their age group of the ethical development model, the reason for their behavior in writing and releasing viruses were unclear gibe to the collected information (Gordon, 1994, p15). While adult virus writers seem to be under the norm for their age group of the ethical devel opment model and The Enemy seem to be Society (Gordon, 1994, p.15). It seems that virus writers desire to fulfill their goal conceals their vision from viewing the ethical issues, another reason could be their dissatisfaction with the society, since the ethics belong to it, and they want revenge against everything in their society including the ethics (Ahmad, 2005, p. 41).Implications may be for IT industryComputer virus implications on the IT industry may cause some company to upgrade their security to higher(prenominal) security level. The growing take aim for computer security specialists is predictable. Consultants may catch enviable income by telling corporate computer users how to protect their machines from blasting failure and how to use antidote and vaccine products. The computer specialists will be in a never ending game with each other. As they develop preventive vaccines and administer the viral antidotes, the viral breeders will also be developing new viruses to ove rcome the new security measures. (Lin Chang, 1989)The implications of the computer virus growth are especially important for Management Information Systems (MIS) as well. Management is becoming aware of the security considerations and internal policies of the firm. In order to prevent system contamination, employees should be warned not to use any unchecked programs. The MIS management should set more straightforward policies and the repercussions of not long-suffering by them. Similarly, any package used in the office should remain on that point and no place else. This is to safeguard against possible infections that could occur outdoor(a) of the office environment. The focus of most policies will be on preventing orthogonal intrusions rather than internal threats simply for the sake of reducing external dangers (Lin Chang, 1989).Implications may be for societyIn early May of year 2000, the message I Love You appeared among emails of computer users worldwide. The attached vi rus since dubbed the Love twit, give up to 45 million computers, paralyzed bodies ranging from the World Health memorial tablet to the Pentagon and is said to have cost business tens of billions of pounds in the UK alone. The Love Bug affected only software created by Microsoft, taking advantage of recent changes designed to improve performance, unfortunately over 90% of desktop computers were using Microsoft software. This software monoculture creates a system with an intrinsically high risk of ruinous failure.ConclusionThere are millions of computer virus developers out there in this world, creating the right virus all the time trying to relegate the security of many kinds of system. As you can see, the number of computer viruses free-base in the world is increasing each year. Every time software and antivirus software developers invent new technology to prevent virus infection, computer virus writers thrilled the world with their ability to go around the new technology and develop the right virus for each age.There are hundreds of thousands of viruses out there (if not millions) and they often designed for different objectives, the writers of computer virus are not a homogenous group, their motivations could be the need to express their dissatisfaction with their social level, to achieve their revenge or to prove their technical ability, drawing attention, becoming famous and well known. It seems that computer virus writers closing to accomplish their goal may conceal their vision from viewing the ethical and legal issues (or they might not even care). Another reason could be their dissatisfaction with their society, since the ethics and legal codes belongs to it, and they want revenge for everything in their society including the ethics and legal codes (Ahmad, 2005, p. 43).The battle between the securities specialists against virus creators will never come to an end, as virus creators will always trying to overcome the security measures, antidotes and vaccines. These are just few of the impacts that can be expected on the computer industry. As for the computer society, the computer virus has become a fact of life.(Word Count 1553)BibliographyMary Landesman (2000) Boot Sector Virus specifyhttp//antivirus.about.com/od/securitytips/a/bootsectorvirus.htm, online(Accessed 3/11/10)