Ethical dilemmas and dimensions in penetration testing.

Abstract

Penetration testers are required to attack systems to evaluate their security, but without engaging in unethical behaviour while doing so. Despite work on hacker values and studies into security practice, there is little literature devoted to the ethical pressures associated with penetration testing. This paper presents several ethical dilemmas and dimensions associated with penetration testing; these shed light on the ethical positions taken by penetration testers, and help identify potential fallacies and biases associated with each position