System Administration Ethics

Book excerpt: Successfully navigate through the ever-changing world of technology and ethics and reconcile system administration principles for separation of duty, account segmentation, administrative groups and data protection. As security breaches become more common, businesses need to protect themselves when facing ethical dilemmas in today’s digital landscape. This book serves as a equitable guideline in helping system administrators, engineers – as well as their managers – on coping with the ethical challenges of technology and security in the modern data center by providing real-life stories, scenarios, and use cases from companies both large and small. You'll examine the problems and challenges that people working with customer data, security and system administration may face in the cyber world and review the boundaries and tools for remaining ethical in an environment where it is so easy to step over a line - intentionally or accidentally. You'll also see how to correctly deal with multiple ethical situations, problems that arise, and their potential consequences, with examples from both classic and DevOps-based environments. Using the appropriate rules of engagement, best policies and practices, and proactive “building/strengthening” behaviors, System Administration Ethics provides the necessary tools to securely run an ethically correct environment. What You'll Learn The concepts of Least Privilege and Need to KnowRequest change approval and conduct change communication Follow "Break Glass" emergency proceduresCode with data breaches, hacking and security violations, and proactively embrace and design for failures Build and gain trust with employees and build the right ethical culture Review what managers can do to improve ethics and protect their employees Who This Book Is ForThis book’s primary audience includes system administrators and information security specialists engaged with the creation, process and administration of security policies and systems. A secondary audience includes company leaders seeking to improve the security, privacy, and behavioral practices.