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EC-Council

312-50V9 · Question #181

A certified ethical hacker (CEH) is approached by a friend who believes her husband is cheating. She offers to pay to break into her husband's email account in order to find proof so she can take…

The correct answer is A. Say no; the friend is not the owner of the account. Accessing someone's account without the account owner's explicit authorization is illegal regardless of the requester's relationship to that person or their motivation.

Introduction to Ethical Hacking

Question

A certified ethical hacker (CEH) is approached by a friend who believes her husband is cheating. She offers to pay to break into her husband's email account in order to find proof so she can take him to court. What is the ethical response?

Options

  • ASay no; the friend is not the owner of the account.
  • BSay yes; the friend needs help to gather evidence.
  • CSay yes; do the job for free.
  • DSay no; make sure that the friend knows the risk she's asking the CEH to take.

How the community answered

(54 responses)
  • A
    91% (49)
  • C
    6% (3)
  • D
    4% (2)

Why each option

Accessing someone's account without the account owner's explicit authorization is illegal regardless of the requester's relationship to that person or their motivation.

ASay no; the friend is not the owner of the account.Correct

The husband is the sole owner of his email account, and only he can authorize access to it. The wife's request does not constitute legal authorization, so any access would violate the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) and equivalent laws. A CEH must refuse any engagement that involves unauthorized access, regardless of the client's personal justification.

BSay yes; the friend needs help to gather evidence.

The desire to gather legal evidence does not override statutory prohibitions on unauthorized computer access, and evidence obtained illegally may also be inadmissible in court.

CSay yes; do the job for free.

Performing unauthorized access for free does not change the legal or ethical status of the act - it is still a crime.

DSay no; make sure that the friend knows the risk she's asking the CEH to take.

While personal risk to the CEH is a concern, the primary and correct reason to refuse is that the access itself is unauthorized and therefore illegal, not merely risky.

Concept tested: Unauthorized access and CEH ethical boundaries

Source: https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/1030

Topics

#ethics#authorization#legal boundaries#professional conduct

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