Growth in technology enables everyone to send and receive information around the globe. Times ago, people only used to send the information which was unidirectional. But with the emerging technology advancements, areas such as marketing, trading, buying and selling, all these transactions started to take place online.
E-commerce is very convenient for everyone. But there is a higher risk of security issues in ecommerce.
E-commerce is a series of activities which involves selling goods and services over the internet, also referred to as E-business. Increase in the use of e-commerce has led to higher security measures also increasing security issues in online transactions. Huge number of customer data including sensitive information such as credit card information, bank accounts, personal information etc are at risk.
Security is the major concern in the e-commerce industry because if security is compromised, the customers will lose faith. Remember the slogan of amazon and just go with your plans to start an online business.
Without genuine security measures, there is a huge risk of losing customers data.
Fraud in digital stores or e-stores are more powerless when compared to physical brick mortar stores. E-commerce security threats and solutions are of major concern in an e-commerce business.
Security issues in E-commerce:
1. Integrity and Authentication
The exchanged message when received to the receiver must remain as it was sent, it must not be changed or altered, this is known as data integrity. There are chances of destruction of data integrity in e-commerce. When data is transferred from one computer to another, data errors may occur. The data could be altered, modified due to bugs or viruses. The data could be permanently lost due to hardware damages.
To minimize threats to data integrity, maintain backup of data daily, provide user interfaces that prevent the input of invalid data, etc. Use of error correction and detection software will help to maintain integrity. Hence security issues in ecommercecan be minimized with constant monitoring.
Authentication is a procedure to identify one user to another. Authentication is a two way process. It usually verifies that the message which is to be conveyed must reach the correct destination.
- User has to authenticate or prove his identity to the system.
- The system has to confirm the identity.
2. Non-Repudiation
To repudiate means to deny.
When you send a registered email or any other email, the recipient won’t be able to deny that the email has been delivered. In the same manner a legal document requires the witness to sign so that he cannot deny doing so.
So, in brief, non repudiation is assurance that It cannot be denied by anyone.
3.Confidentiality
Confidentiality is the protection of information or data from any unauthorized users. The data or information which is shared between the merchant, vendor and the customer must be accessible to them only. To practice confidentiality, use of antivirus software, good encryption and decryption methods must be used.
4. Privacy
When users make any online transaction, all of the information regarding the users is stored in the owner’s database. What happens in case if the information is misused?
Each and every e-commerce website has their own privacy policies. Customers must go through those once before utilization of goods or services from their websites. Customers are the most worried about privacy and security issues in e-commerce.
The customers will have to undergo huge problems as the sellers have legal rights to take actions on customers to dissipate their website. Therefore, security issues in e-commerce will certainly have some impact on both seller’s and the customers.
Types of security attacks in e-commerce:
1. Denial of services and distributed denial of service attacks
Distributed denial of service attacks overburdens the server of a site and makes the site offline. It is an attempt to disrupt the traffic on the website. DDOS is similar to a traffic jam, it lets the user not reach the destination.
2. Password
Hackers can easily hack customers passwords through algorithms and then access the users accounts, which has sensitive information. They can even hack the server and database passwords. Hence, try to keep strong passwords.
3. Phishing
You must have received various mails that have action links such as – ‘you must take action’, once you click on the link, it may be possible that your information such as login or other personal information could be accessed.
4. Man in the middle attack
Man in the middle is when the communication between server and client is disrupted. When information is altered, which is to be sent to the client, data gets lost. One example is eavesdropping, in this the attacker connects to the client and server individually and relays messages between them such that it seems communication between the client and server.
To prevent this attack, the channel must be encrypted and decrypted. So that the communication is secure.
How to implement an e-commerce security plan ?
1.Carry out risk analysis
First and foremost, security plans start with risk analysis. So, depending on the organization and the type of websites, plan out the areas which can affect the security.
2. Develop and implement a security plan.
Security plan is a bunch of security statements that identify the the risks, the areas where these risks can occur and the mechanisms to eliminate or reduce this risk.
3. Build a team
To implement and take care of the security plan, build a robust team with skilled executives, train them, keeping the management aware about the security threats and measures, maintain the security tools timely etc.
4. Carry out security audits
Timely audits will help to track down the growth you have achieved in developing in the security plans. Despite of all this you can still start an ecommerce business in india and globally.
How to overcome security issues in e-commerce ?
1. Server Security
Ensure that the web hosting company you are using has your security as the major concern.Server-side firewall, SSL certificates, options to add CDN etc must be provided.
Server Security must be the first and foremost one to overcome security issues in e-commerce.
2. SSL (Secure Socket Layer) Certificates
For all the e-commerce websites, it is mandatory to have SSL certificates to facilitate secure connections as these certifications are very useful in authenticating identity of online retail business and securing data at the checkout. These certificates also safeguards the customers from financial online frauds. These certificates also safeguards the customers from financial online frauds. If you think about the branded SSL certificate that offers data integrity, security and privacy then, few popular yet low priced SSL certs are RapidSSL certificate, Comodo SSL, AlphaSSL wildcard SSL and for subdomains security are cheaper SSL certificates available in SSL industry. An ecommerce can try any single domain, multi domain or wildcard SSL security as per site needs.
3. Set robust passwords
Hackers can easily access users’ accounts in most e-commerce sites. Even the e-commerce sites fail to ask the user for stronger passwords. As the hackers are very tech-savvy, they can simply find out the passwords using various algorithms. So, websites must ask the users to enter a password with a combination of alphabets and numbers.
4. Security of Payment Gateways
The payment gateways that have been integrated in your website, ensure that the providers have security as their biggest concern.
5. Firewall
Get a firewall for your computer as well as for your website. It blocks unauthorized users from sending and receiving data. Security plugins already have firewall built, so WordPress users can work on the security very easily.
6. Updates
Whenever you receive any updates of your computer,software , php version, antivirus software, computer network, wordpress plugins, themes etc keep everything updated. Ig any of the above got without updates, there might be a risk to your ecommerce business.
7. Antivirus Software
Antivirus software helps to keep the website protected. Get an antivirus software which has – malware scan, daily cloud backups, IP tracking, secure passwords etc.
8. Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard
The PCI has guidelines regarding security of websites in e-commerce. It is a set of rules regarding payment processing, web hosting etc. E-commerce website owners must be sure to follow and implement these rules to build and maintain their site.
9. Encryption/Decryption, Cryptography
The channel must be secured. It can be done through encryption and decryption or using various techniques of cryptography.
Conclusion
Security issues in e-commerce are the major concern. The goal is to provide a safe and secure atmosphere to the customers to shop online. If you are intimidated or worried, get yourself a professional partner to help you out, but never ever compromise in the security.
Protecting unauthorised access, preventing loss, protecting financial areas, etc comes under e-commerce security. Develop a robust security plan as per your organization needs.
