Security, Software, and Ethics Essay -- Software Computers Ethics Mora

Security, Softw ar, and EthicsIntroductionEvery day, we use computer software system to arrange everyday tasks. These can range from sending e-mail, balancing your checkbook, web browsing, shopping and much more. Most people dont stop to think about the security of the software that we use on a daily basis. Users are more concerned about getting their work done, and security is little more than an afterthought.Security is a very important and often overlooked aspect of software development. Security is used to authenticate users, manage access to resources, and to ensure that data hasnt been compromised. Recent events such(prenominal) as the Sasser, SQL Server, Blaster and Nimda worms have been devastating throughout the world. Theyve cost companies and everyday people billions of dollars worth of wasted time, money and productivity. In some cases, data gets corrupted, limited or deleted. Businesses are unable to function normally, which can result in heavy financial losses.Some of these worms are still taking over computers to this day, unyielding after patches have been readily available to fix the problem. Security professionals have been telling computer users to patch their systems and keep them up to date, but it their words arent beingness listened to in spite of their warnings. Why is this scenario constantly being repeated? Whos responsible for ensuring that software we use is secure?I feel that software companies and software engineers are ethically responsible for making sure that their software is secure. Were becoming more dependent on computer software, which makes us more vulnerable to virus attacks from a security bug in a widely used piece of software. They must be able to ensure that our software is more secu... ...3 Peter Mell and Miles C. Tracy, Procedures for intervention Security Patches, National Institute of Standards and Technology, August 2002http//www.csrc.nist.gov/publications/nistpubs/800-40/sp800-40.pdfSuggested resourcesSANS Institute - Computer security web localize, with information about computer security traininghttp//www.sans.orgSANS Institute adaptation Room - Articles on a variety of security topicshttp//www.sans.org/rr Security Focus - Web site with news and analysis of security issueshttp//www.securityfocus.comThe Register - Web site with IT-related newshttp//www.theregister.co.uk Software Engineering Institute, Carnegie Mellon Universityhttp//www.sei.cmu.edu/National Institute for Science and Technologyhttp//www.nist.govThe CERT Coordination Center - A reporting center for Internet securityhttp//www.cert.org