Gabriella Fonti

Ethics & Technology

The organization Scambusters aims to educate the public of consumers about the latest
dubious scams circulating the world in the form of emails, websites, phone calls, and letters.
Scambusters also offers a weekly email of the latest scams that provides a quick explanation of
the scam and how to verify if it’s real or not, along with tips to identify future scams.

One recent scam that I found interesting was “call spoofing” which is when scammers
mask their phone numbers to look like a trustworthy caller. The scammers use local area codes,
government area codes, banks, and even your own phone number but just change one number.
The ability to use technology to mask phone numbers is very fascinating. I received calls from a
number that was identical to mine except the last number was changed from a 3 to 4. Thankfully
in my situation after I blocked the number the calls had stopped; some scammers are persistent
and use many, many phone numbers and call relentlessly.

The most common call spoofing scam Is the IRS phone calls claiming you owe taxes for
previous years. The recorded call tells you that you owe taxes for “x” year and then goes on to
say that a police officer will be visiting your house to arrest you if you don’t pay. If you end up
listening to the entire recording, you’ll be transferred to a call center most likely in the middle
east. Then the operator proceeds to tell you how much you owe and says that you have to send
the money via MoneyGram.

I had known the call wasn’t legitimate and entertained the operator to get the details of
his operation. The man claimed I didn’t pay my taxes for the year of 2012; which I proceeded to
say that in 2012 I was fourteen and wasn’t even eligible to pay taxes; then the phone call ended. I
have a friend whose mother works for the IRS and had said that every time they call someone it’s
recorded (obviously) and they have to state their 5-digit identification number immediately.

The first two paragraphs of the document explain that most of the world and critical
infrastructure is currently online and a security threat would result in very debilitating
repercussions. As a matter of fact, the entire opening page if the document is very eloquent, “The
National Strategy to Secure Cyberspace provides a framework for protecting this infrastructure
that is essential to our economy, security, and way of life.” The opening was written by George
Bush, or perhaps it wasn’t, and it was just signed by him…

Businesses, government operations, and national defense has shifted into cyberspace and
it’s imperative the government and we as citizens protect the/our data from vulnerabilities. There
is a lot of encouragement for private businesses and citizens to participate with their knowledge
to help combat cyber threats mentioned in the document. Considering the security of cyberspace
is an astonishingly complex challenge that requires an effort from our entire society.

In the past decade threats have become more frequent, therefore the evident goal is to
find and fix vulnerabilities to these threats before they can be exploited. The utmost objective is
to ensure that such disruptions are infrequent, and when breached are of minimal duration,
manageable, and cause the least damage possible.

Our economy and national security have been fully dependent upon information
technology since 2003. The underlying information infrastructure is the Internet, which is a
system that today connects hundreds of millions of other computer networks. Resulting in
making the majority of the nation’s essential services and infrastructures work. “These computer
networks also control physical objects such as electrical transformers, trains, pipeline pumps,
chemical vats, radars, and stock markets.”

A large contributing factor that vulnerabilities exist is because lacking cybersecurity

awareness on the behalf of computer users, systems administrators, technology developers,
auditors, chief information officers (CIOs), chief executive officers, and corporate boards.
Awareness-based weaknesses pose detrimental risks to critical infrastructures regardless of
whether they exist within the infrastructure itself. The lack of trained employees along with an
absence of universal, multi-level certification programs for cybersecurity professionals increase
the complexity to address cyber vulnerabilities.

Protecting the Nation’s cybersecurity is a constant transformation because as the internet

changes, security precautions need to as well because vulnerabilities can arise. As mentioned
near the end of the document, “A key step to ensuring the security of federal information
technology is to understand the current state of the effectiveness of security and privacy controls
in individual systems. Once identified, it is equally important to maintain that understanding
through a continuing cycle of risk assessment.”

As a citizen I feel at ease knowing the government is being very proactive at maintaining
constant cyber security to protect our nation from the havoc of a potential cyber security threat or
breach. I do however feel a bit of unease because a severe breach could damage our economy,
privacy, electrical transformers, trains, pipeline pumps, chemical vats, radars, and stock markets,
all of which exist beyond cyberspace.

Hacking has definitely become more dangerous and has had more coverage because there
are companies that weren’t notifying their consumers about the breaches that had happened. I
find that to be extremely unethical. Companies should notify their consumers immediately about
any threats or compromises to ensure they can take the proper course of action for their privacy
safety. If hacking wasn’t so prominent and dangerous there wouldn’t be credit companies that
allow you to freeze your data from being pulled. Also, credit card companies that alert you when
a new credit report is run with your social security number.

My passwords aren’t as safe as they should be because I do use the same one across
multiple websites and applications. I have looked into websites that have been subject to data
breach and have been notified that my info could have been compromised. The course of action I
took after learning that info was to change my password for crucial websites such as FASFA and
my banking. For silly websites that don’t matter much such as Pinterest, Twitter, and Reddit I
don’t bother because there’s no sensitive information to be stolen and used against me. To
increase the safety of my passwords I need to make them extremely unique, use a different one
for each website that has my crucial information, and write them down in a notebook because I
wouldn’t be able to remember them all.

Software piracy is an issue for companies trying to generate revenue, but software is also
relatively expensive for an average consumer and needs to be renewed either monthly, quarterly,
semiannually, yearly, every few years etc. I personally wouldn’t hesitate to try and find a cheaper
or free alternative, but I definitely wouldn’t pirate a software because I’m scared about
vulnerabilities to viruses and malware for my computer.

Microsoft has the ability to restrict access from their software if you download additional
copies that your account is not subscribed for. Microsoft also uses unique product registration
keys for each download / CD purchased. When I got a new computer, I hadn’t known that
Microsoft office was already installed. I downloaded the software and signed up for a trial that
ended up not letting me “enable documents” to edit so I live chatted with a representative that
said to check my applications and to delete the extra download. He then said that it’s very
common to have that mistake because it seemed puzzling to me on how I hadn’t thought of it.

Companies also may use encryption to protect their software codes but can be fairly
expensive for smaller companies. A course of action is companies also litigate pirates to deter
other pirates and can gain a settlement that can recoup a small fraction of stolen profits.

Some think that there is nothing wrong with software piracy. Perhaps they think it is
acceptable and ethical to copy the software because they have a right to the information
contained in the software. Possibly they think that software piracy is a victimless crime because
of the climbing prices of software, manufacturers aren’t hurt by producing illegal copies of their
programs. I’d think the most common justification to pirate software is to claim that they're
testing the software and they’d pay for it if they end up liking it.

The other side of the argument is that piracy is not a victimless crime resulting in over 63
billion dollars and over 100,000 jobs lost. The temptation of piracy is due to its anonymity and
the effortlessness of how copies can be made and distributed. Though, every individual who
reproduces illegal copies is contributing to revenue losses for businesses. Software developers
and businesses have rights to profit from their creation, similarly to people who write books have
the right to sell them. Bootlegging software is thieving the rightful owners of hard-earned
remuneration. Pirating software in turn costs law abiding consumers due to, not as many copies
are being sold therefore, the companies have to raise prices.

The piracy of music and videos are subject to the same consequences as software piracy
by loss of revenue to the artist and production companies. YouTube has cracked down on
removing videos uploaded with copyrighted information. Google has also removed websites that
allow you to download songs through URLs without paying for them. One site I used frequently
as an adolescent unaware to the severity that this was illegal was youtubetomp3converter to
download music to my phone. Google also removed websites that allowed to download software
to download music such as LimeWire.
 I think Entertainment media Piracy is wrong, but I hadn’t realized it was so prevalent but
that may be due to the majority of media piracy occurring in India according to Google. No, I’d
consider the ethics concerning all piracy to be the same regardless of the form being pirated. I
agree with the law in place that offenders should be subject to up to five years in prison and or up
to a fine of $250,000. Even though only the higher profiled offenders are subject to this
punishment. Generally looting a bunch of songs without trying to capitalize on it isn’t too
concerning for the authorities or enterprises to come after the individual.

Reference:

Call Spoofing Behind Half of All Calls Says Spam Blocking Firm.html. (n.d.). Retrieved
from https://www.scambusters.org/callspoofing.html

Perlroth, N. (2014, December 02). Hacked vs. Hackers: Game On. Retrieved from
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/12/02/hacked-vs-hackers-game-on/?ref=technology&_r=0

Cs.stanford.edu. (2019). The Ethics of Piracy. [online] Retrieved from

https://cs.stanford.edu/people/eroberts/cs181/projects/1999-00/software-piracy/ethical.html
[Accessed 7 Mar. 2019].

BSA (2012). Global Piracy Study. Retrieved from

from http://ww2.bsa.org/country/Research%20and%20Statistics/~/media/Files/Research%20Pap
ers/GlobalStudy/2011/2011_BSA_Piracy_Study%20Standard.ashx

The Department of Homeland Security (2003). THE NATIONAL STRATEGY TO

SECURE CYBERSPACE. The United States.