Successful management in information technology requires knowledge of the legal and ethical environment. Globalization, increasing commerce between graphical locations brought on by the ability to connect online, and the increasing mix of cultures bring additional complexity to the considerations of law and ethics in cybersecurity and information technology (IT). The final project for this course will require you to research a recent (within the last five years) incident or event in the field of IT, e-commerce, or cyber security in the context of the legal and ethical standards of that time period. You will identify the issues the organization(s) had, recommend changes for that organization(s), and write a report that highlights your recent analysis, findings, and recommendations.
The project is divided into three milestones, which will be submitted at various points throughout the course to scaffold learning and ensure quality final submissions. These milestones will be submitted in Modules Two, Four, and Seven. The final submission will occur in Module Nine.
In this assignment you will demonstrate your mastery of the following course outcomes:
Apply cyberlaw principles appropriately to everyday circumstances, business models, and information technology issues
Assess legal and compliance issues related to information technology for their impact to organizations, society, and culture
Propose relevant changes to organizations and standards that ensure legal and ethical cyber practice and behavior
Determine the impact of various legal cases on compliance and regulatory standards within information technology
Analyze the impact of various cultural attitudes and legal issues related to global communication on information technology
Prompt
You will select a recent or current incident from the public record and analyze the case to identify the issues that led to the incident. What recommendations can you make to ensure the incident will not occur again? What were the results of the incident? And, finally, what were the cultural, societal, or global impacts of this case and the subsequent changes to the legal environment? Please note: Your selection will need to be submitted and approved by the instructor.
Specifically the following critical elements must be addressed:
Introduction
Apply cyberlaw and security principles to the business, e-commerce, and e-communication industries. What purpose does the application of cyber principles serve for these industries?
Summarize the selected case, including the necessary organizational information, industry, problem, and time period of the incident.
Case Analysis
Analyze the case to determine the ethical issues within the organization that may have led to the incident. What are these issues and why do you credit them for the incident?
Determine legal compliance issues within the organization that may have led to the incident or could lead to future incidents. Were there any legal and ethical standards in existence at the time that were not followed by the organization? What were these issues and how did they impact the organization?
Determine the societal and cultural impact of these compliance issues. Some things to consider in your assessment include specific targeting of demographic groups, victimization of certain customers, and so on.
Incident Impact
Determine the impact this incident may have had on the ethical and legal IT regulations of the time. If there were no direct results of this case, what may have been the indirect impact and/or what was the impact of similar cases? For example, what regulatory changes resulted from this or similar cases? What is your reasoning?
Determine the connection between the industry standards and the standards in existence for information technology. Specifically, determine if the organization was lacking in either industry-specific or IT-specific alignment with regulations that may have contributed to the incident, and provide support for your conclusions. For example, misalignment with HIPAA laws in healthcare is an industry-specific deviation from standards.
Cultural Impact: Analyze the influence this incident may have had on various cultural attitudes toward IT and cybercommunication or commerce. In other words, how could this incident impact views of information technology use ?
