1

Business, Government and Society

Case Study 6

How Safe is Your Personal Information?

Submitted by: Corey Smith.

Date: 14th June 2020.

 2

The biggest benefit that the consumers have from using paperless, electronic systems is that they

have an easy access to their money without having to carry money with them when physically going to

stores. It is more convenient and less of a risk because they don’t have to carry actual currency with

them which is more prone to being stolen. If a credit/debit card does get stolen, the person can

immediately call his/her bank and get it blocked which will decline all activity on it. It’s also convenient

to order items online by simply putting in your credit or debit card number so the deduction is made

directly from the account and no cash has to be given in at the time of delivery. The risks of using these

electronic systems is that since the person has no physical limit as to how much he or she can spend,

they tend to overspend from their budget. Moreover, there is a constant cyber risk, as discussed above

in the case study as well, that lies with the use of electronic systems because all personal information is

available online which can be wrongly used. There is a certain loss of privacy that ensues with the uses

of electronic systems because some websites or companies do not have the proper virtual firewalls to

block the intrusions of cyber criminals who can steal card numbers online and mis use them for their

own benefits. Hence while there are risks to the process of becoming paperless and shifting to electronic

systems for payments, there are greater benefits that exist and therefore help cancel out the underlying

risks. With the correct security, cyber fraud or intrusions of hackers can also be stopped which will make

the whole process of electronic paperless systems much safer to use for consumers.

It is indeed true that cyber criminals are catching up to speed with the way technology is progressing

and revolving. These criminals now hold the right information and expertise to virtually break into the

personal databases of corporations as big as Wal-Mart and Twitter which shows exactly how much of a

hold they have on the technology that is needed for doing cyber-criminal activities. Taking this into

account though, firstly the Saint Leo University’s pillar of integrity comes to mind. If all of us apply this

into our lives and aim to be honest and truthful in what we do, it will become easy to avoid or atleast

lessen the criminal activities that occur online. Apart from this, these sorts of criminal acts can be
 3

stopped through constant checks and updated firewalls. At times, the responsible departments for these

checks become lax in their work and choose not to update these firewalls and passwords which gives

the cyber criminals the leeway to break into their systems and steal the personal data of consumers.

Hence, with the speed at which technology is progressing I think that it is possible to outsmart and stay

ahead of these cyber criminals by constantly changing your systems and having strict checks on the back

ends of these systems from where the cyber criminals usually find their openings. It is also important to

make laws and impose them on these cyber criminals so that they fear the consequences and hence

withdraw from doing such activities. Conclusively, it can be said that with proper checks and imposition

of constantly changing technology, these cyber criminals can be outsmarted.

 4

References

Lawrence, A. T., & Weber, J. (2015). Business and Society; Stakeholders, Ethics, Public Policy.

New York: McGraw-Hill Education.