Assignment on the Cyber Ethics

A massive international breach of personal information was concealed by Uber. It involved 57 million users and even drivers in 2016. It was admitted by the company that it had been inefficient in notifying regulators and individuals about the breach. It also confirmed that 100,000 dollars had been paid by Uber to hackers for deleting the data and keeping quiet about the breach. It presents critical issues for Uber and it even raises implications for organisations storing the data of users (Carriew, 2017). In this paper, questions relevant to the Uber case will be answered.

Questions and Answers

Was Uber justified in withholding information that related to a breach? What are the ethical considerations this breach and Uber's subsequent handling of it raised? Build a case for your argument.

            Uber was certainly not justified in withholding information related to the breach. For every organisation making the use of and storing personal information of users, it is considered quite important to ensure that governmental and other responsible authorities are informed about the breach as soon as possible. For instance, as determined by the Notifiable Data Breach, Uber should have informed the Australian Information Commissioner about the breach. By not doing so, Uber indicated that it cared about its business more than its customers, which is wrong in its own. This served to raise significant ethical considerations and made the users of Uber question the integrity and transparency of company with its clients. After all, Uber did not disclose the information about the breach. What intensified it even more was that Uber had paid hackers a large amount of money just to ensure that they would stay quiet about the breach.

How could the Notifiable Data Breaches (NDB) scheme affect an organisation?

            When it comes to Notifiable Data Breaches scheme, it is important for an organisation to contact its lawyer and IT provider first. Moving on, it should notify the Australian Information Commissioner about the breach by completing and providing a form in writing. For notifying the concerned people, it will be important for an organisation to write about it. In accordance with the type of audience, the organisation can reveal information about breach in the form of video format as well. In addition to it, the organisation should make sure to inform affected people about what they can do and what steps they can take to ensure that they are adversely influenced as minimum as possible. In short, NDB scheme causes an organisation to take effective measures to prevent the adverse effects of data breach. However, if these measures are not taken and guidelines are not considered, an organisation can be fined significantly, in millions. Therefore, it is important for organisations suffering from a breach to follow the guidelines of scheme (Lawyers, 2018).

Which items in the ACS Code of Ethics would Uber have breached is they were based in Australia?

            If Uber were based in Australia, it would have breached several guidelines in the ACS Code of Ethics. For instance, it is determined in the Code of Ethics that public interest should be considered prior to sectional interests or personal benefits. This guideline would have been breached by Uber because the company did not reveal the information about breach because it would have adversely influenced its credibility. Other than just negatively affecting its credibility, it would have served to break the trust of people in the company and they would not have taken the services offered by Uber. The second guideline is that businesses will strive to enhance the quality of target audience. This guideline would have also been breached by Uber because its current efforts of hiding the breach were not aimed at enhancing the quality of lives of target audience. The third guideline requires businesses to be honest about business, which would have been breached as well because Uber was not honest in its ministrations (ACS, 2020).

Does the Code excuse foreign companies from its rules?

            The Code of Ethics applies to every organisation operating in Australia, whether they are foreign or local. It does not apply to those organisations that operate in other nations because other countries have their own regulations and rules regarding the operations and functions of business. Therefore, the ACS Code of Ethics applies to only those companies and businesses that operate in Australia whether they are local businesses or foreign businesses.

You have requested your manager for additional investment into cybersecurity: how would your manager respond? What would you say about the NDB and/or the Uber breach to persuade them?

            My manager would certainly ask for my reasons about investment in cyber-security. In addition to it, concerned stakeholders would also need more information about why such a decision has been made in the first place. In order to persuade both the manager and the stakeholders, I will first explain the drawbacks of not having a powerful security system in the organisation. Then, I will explain the case of Uber and will also explain what consequences Uber had to face because of its inefficiency in terms of not tasking proper steps and why breach occurred in the first place. After explaining the case, I will describe the benefits of investing in cyber-security and making the use of advanced technologies. By explaining the advantages and how it will strengthen customer loyalty, I will persuade them.

Conclusion of Cyber Ethics

            Overall, it can be said that a massive international breach of personal information was concealed by Uber. It involved 57 million users and even drivers in 2016. It was admitted by the company that it had been inefficient in notifying regulators and individuals about the breach. Due to it, it had to face adverse consequences which affected its credibility and image in the international market. This case implies that there is a significant need for organisations to focus on cyber-security and make sure that all relevant guidelines are met. Otherwise, it is possible that businesses might be breached and they might lose their credibility in the market, successfully cutting down their profits and sales.

References of Cyber Ethics

ACS. (2020). ACS Code of Ethics. Retrieved from ACS.

Carriew, J. (2017). Uber concealed massive hack that exposed data of 57m users and drivers. Retrieved from Theguardian: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/nov/21/uber-data-hack-cyber-attack

Lawyers, H. (Director). (2018). The Notifiable Data Breach Scheme - Part 2 [Motion Picture].