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== Power ==

Collectively sysadmins are holding the ''keys to the castle'' of modern society.  Little attention has been given to date to the damage sysadmins could do if they chose to assert their computer privileges in an unethical manner.  Most sysadmins have little or no oversight of their technical work, and indeed the majority of their co-workers barely understand what it is that they do, let alone how they do it.  Consider the damage that the sysadmins running the computer systems of a public utility or a financial institution could do if those chose to.   There are organisations who do monitor sysadmins properly, and even engage in [[privilege siloing]] but they are in the minority.

In order to minimise the risks it is necessary to require the highest level of ethics from sysadmins.  It is also (unfortunately) likely that greater levels of monitoring of sysadmins will be required in the future

== Ethics ==

All sysadmins should adhere to a code of professional ethics. We live in a society already
heavily reliant on computers and this trend is continuing. Those who have control of
the computer systems have a great deal of power in their hands that most others don't
realise.

Unless the organisation goes to great lengths (which very few do) sysadmins are capable
of accessing any corporate information and doing so in a manner which is undetectable.
This carries with it a huge responsibility. Adhering to a code of ethics such as those
produced by [[SAGE]] or [[SAGE-AU]] is essential for the good management of computer
systems. In the future it is likely that registration of sysadmins will be a requirement.

== See Also ==

* [http://sage.org/ethics/ Code of Ethics shared by SAGE, LOPSA & Usenix]
* [http://www.sage-au.org.au/display/SAGEAU/Code+of+Ethics SAGE-AU Code of Ethics]

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