Abstract
The growth of the digital ecosystem has given a sense that the rise of security implementations must be considered by every organization including governments in terms of adopting the best digital ethical approaches and awareness on the importance of ensuring privacy. Increased use of the internet has also increased matters of cyber threats and unethical behaviors. Therefore, implementation of digital ethics has become crucial to prevent or minimize the impacts of cybercrime, and so, securing sensitive information from unauthorized access has become extremely important. This study analyses and describes the future trends regarding security in digital ethics and privacy within the digital ecosystem. The results point to a relative correlation between the government and business sector and the types of attacks and that digital ethics and privacy makes up the core elements of security. Implementing cautionary steps are also necessary to prevent from any form of cyber-attack.
TopIntroduction
We are living in the age of digital ecosystem, where information and knowledge is becoming increasingly important. There is no denying the fact that information and knowledge are important assets that need to be protected from unauthorized users (such as hackers, phishers, social engineers, viruses and worms) that threaten governments and organizations of all types. The rapid advancement of digital ecosystem and the growing dependence of government organizations (as well as the commercial sector) on digital ecosystems, continue to intensify concerns on information security and privacy. Although, most digital ecosystems are designed to have a considerable amount of strength in order to sustain and assist organizations in protecting information from security threats, they are not completely immune from the threats from unauthorized users.
Government organizations are paying increased attention to protecting information relating to their business processes, as the impact of information security breaches today have a much more serious and tangible effect. Information security needs to be considered as a business enabler that becomes an integral part of business processes. The assurance of information security may also help to raise trust of the users in any organization, including the government sector. Besides, it should be understood that security of information brings many advantages to organizations e.g. improved efficiency due to the exploitation of new technologies, and increased trust from partners and users. The important driver for information security adoption is to demonstrate to partners and customers that the organization has identified and measured their security risks, implemented a security policy and controls that will mitigate or at least minimize these risks; also to protect assets in order to support the achievement of business process objectives (Susanto & Almunawar, 2015; 2016; 2016a; 2018).
In the following sub-sections, we define and discuss the importance of, and implications of security, ethics and privacy within organizations and for connected governments.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Black Hat Hackers: This refers to the individuals trying to achieve (steal or damage) something of value through unethical means and bad intentions, that could cause a huge financial and reputational damage to the organization through accessing a system without the authorization and permission required.
White Hat Hackers: These individuals, also known as Ethical Hackers (indicating purity), refer to individuals who hack with good intentions and with permission of the organization. They are usually members of an organization, or externally hired) with the knowledge to hack for a good cause (such as testing to determine how good the security is).
Grey Hat Hackers: These hackers, by definition, fall in between White and Black Hat hackers variety as they intrude a system without authorization but their intentions of doing so are certainly not totally as bad as “Black Hat” hackers intentions.
Decision Support System (DSS): An information system that supports business or organizational decision-making activities. DSS serve the management, operations, and planning levels of an organization; and help middle and higher management to make strategic decisions in the rapidly changing external environments.
Rootkit: A rootkit is a collection of computer software, typically malicious, designed to enable access to a computer or its software that is not otherwise allowed (for example, to an unauthorized user) and often masks its existence or the existence of other software.
DDoS Attacks: This refers to distributed denial of service attacks. Here, a malicious attempt is made to disrupt normal traffic of a targeted server, service, or network by overwhelming the channel capacity of the target or its surrounding infrastructure with a flood of Internet traffic.
Digital Ecosystem: A distributed, adaptive, open socio-technical system that has properties of scalability, sustainability, and self-organization, inspired from natural ecosystems, through the use of digital technology. Digital ecosystem models are informed by information and communication latest technologies.