Ethics in Information Security: Project

Objectives of the Field Survey project:

• How many people in the IS industry are aware of:

1. The Risks and Vulnerabilities that exists for a Muslim IS professional in the contemporary Business Markets?
2. Challenges faced by IS Professionals once they enter the field?
3. The halal and haram transactions transacted in the markets
4. Difference in the definitions of terms used by both a Muslim IS Professional and a Non Muslim IS professional
5. Blind compliance to Professional Code of ethics by non-Muslim organization may lead to destruction of imaan/Aqeeda
6. Blind compliance to contracts or agreements of western non-Muslim  organizations may lead to destruction of imaan/Aqeeda
7. Difference between the definition of ethics and Sharia 

• To make the IS industry people aware of the issues they are unaware of
• To give you the opportunity to establish links in IS industry which you can use to seek internships, projects or jobs
•  To help you refine the Soft skills

What variables can we cover for this project?

• Riba Based Projects
• Projects dealing with Promoting Obscenity
• Environmental issues like Mixed environments
• Compliance to haram instructions from companies or bosses
• Impact of lying on Projects
• Importance of being truthful
• Issues in contracts
• Awareness about Gharrar (uncertainty) in transactions and agreements and its impacts
• Projects involving haram actions
• Impact of haram on companies, employers, employees and their families
• Awareness about Objectives of Sharia
  1. Protection of Deen
  2. Protection of Life
  3. Protection of Intellect
  4. Protection of Progeny
  5. Protection of Wealth
• Decision making process in Islam

1. Mashawara
2. Istikhara

• Impact of Gheebat , Bugz & Keena on Projects
• Impact of Major Sins
• Act of forgiving subordinates, bosses and peers on daily basis
• Impact of Giving Bribes

Qasim and Hamza, fresh graduates without any experience, were discussing different business ideas after the graduation, and decided to open a small IS Consultancy business. They sat through the night analyzing different opportunities, and decided to launch the company within next three days. They did the following activities in the next 3 months:

1. Identified and consulted 3 people working in the same business for advice
2. Developed a small presentation and shared the ideas with their families to raise the initial capital. The initial requirement was rs. 200000.  They were able to generate  initially Rs 150,000 within the families, and decided to raise the balance from the SMEDA at 6% markup. Ahmed’s Father, an extremely successful banker who recently retired as a VP Loan recovery section of CitiBank, decided to give the young boys initial seed capital from his retirement savings.
3. Decided to hire a consultant to draft their working agreement. The consultant told them that the agreement will be given to them on the 30^th  working day of the business opening day
4. Was advised by some senior people not to charge more than 100 % of the profit on any if their goods, as it was against sharia.
5. Hired 2 programmers, male and a female for initial working and telemarketing.  Assigned them the daily reporting time of 9 AM to report to work in their newly established one room small office. It was decided that the salaries and other terms and conditions will be decided next month. 
6. Developed a small company profile highlighting their similar past experiences to beef up the profile
7. Visited markets and found out the best business practices in the prevalent market and decided to go along with the prevalent market practices.  It was advised by the wise businessmen working in the industry to go with the prevalent practices, if they were to establish and sustain the business.  One of the practices was to weigh the packaging material with the products to come to the total weight of the bag or box and charge it accordingly.
8. Purchased two systems and booked appointment to purchase to the state life insurance to cover the risk of theft.
9. Bought purchased windows and MS office for Rs 200 from Murree Road and Installed it on PCs. Also bought  a specialized software, costing Rs. 80 from Murree Road, for record keeping which was developed by a Saudi Arabian Muslim owned  company
10. Went through various project bidding sites and also scanned through their personal list of contact to start finding business opportunities.
11. Found an excellent opportunity to develop a loan origination software for national bank of England and immediacy working on the project. Client told them that the agreement will be signed after their lawyer’s return from vacation- 3 weeks from the start of the assignment.
12. One of the clients signed an escrow agreement with the new company for its project.
13. Was promised to get another good project worth $10,000 through one of their links. However, they had to beef up the profile by adding 3 CVs of their seniors to show the capability of delivering the solution. This was a standard business practice in the industry.
14. One of the agreements stipulated that in case of late payment by the client, a markup of 3% will be charged on the unpaid balance.
15. Received another offer to develop and maintain a website to do high risk online trading in the high risk investments in US Stock exchange online to generate surplus cash.
16. Were required to give status report every two weeks to client management on the ongoing projects. Following the industry practices, was advised by seniors to:
    1.  not share the exact status with clients and to keep some cushion of at least 3 weeks in all deliverables
    2. To leave backdoors in the software in case the client delays the payments.