E-commerce and security threats to e-commerce

Commerce generally works for a large-scale system to carry out the movement of goods from the person who sells the goods to the person who buys for their personal need or commercial need. In E-commerce, the transaction of goods occurs but all the process occurs only in online mode. Poseidon was the Greek man who laid the path to commerce. Commerce simply means the selling of goods in large amount and does not need any tactics to be followed but only the buyer and seller is needed. In modern times, threats to e-commerce are growing and business people should know the dangers and the ways to avoid them.

E-commerce

In Electronic Commerce, the activities cover all the transactions from the manufacture of the goods to selling the goods to the customer. The different ways of transactions that can be performed are,

• Business to Business

• Consumer to Business

• Consumer to Consumer

• Business to Consumer

Trading in e-commerce is based on money. In the current century, people are more relying on the e-commerce sites available on the Internet source to buy the products they want. In this people pay for the things they buy and can also sell the products in the market. Transactions are done by individual people and e-commerce deals with the entire process of selling goods.

Advantages of E-commerce:

Availability − E-commerce provides the customer with flexible time. The services are available round-the-clock for the customers to review the product, buy or return. Based on the reviews from customers, e-commerce will gain the benefit of getting the most bought product and make others also buy the product based on good reviews.

Payment Method − The methods for paying for the products have various choices like Cash on delivery, Unified Payment Interface (UPI), etc.

Limitation of Goods − The sellers will have only a certain quantity and are available to a minimum number of customers in and around the particular area to buy the products. But in e-commerce, the customer can buy any products from anywhere and the goods at wholesale price or at low price.

Product Price − In the Ecommerce sites we can see one product with different price ranges also based on the brand. It makes the customer choose the one they want.

Disadvantages of e-commerce

Apart from the major advantages, there are some disadvantages to be known,

Competitive − E-commerce has grown a lot and provided easy access to customers, so e-commerce sites are emerging day by day.

Site crash − The customers cannot access the site when it is crashed by cyber-attacks. So, to avoid this some ways to protect from security threats are given below,

Security Threats to E-commerce

The people who buy goods that are the retailers from e-commerce sites face security problems and lose their money and data every year. The retailers are aware of the security threats and the ways to control them depending on the threat as given below,

Data steal

The main motive for the hackers is to steal the personal data of the customers who have logged in or using particular e-commerce sites. The data is then sold in the black market for money.

So, e-commerce sites should assure the safety of customers from any threats.

Scam

The Attackers send an email or message using the logo and information like a legitimate site, to reroute the users to provide some personal information. It is also possible the virus enters the system via this email using any link.

Malware Attack

The most common security threat is the malware, virus, Trojan horse, and ransom attack. Through any unwanted message or link, the hacker enters the system and installs the malware in the main system, and transfers all the data to their site or corrupts the sensitive data.

Product Return

The Hackers will imitate the customers and pretend to believe that the product is returned and so the money is transferred. Some fraudulent request a refund for the good which not bought. The stolen debit or credit cards will be used to buy goods and after some time will file a request that the card is stolen and return the payment.

Man-in-middle Attack

The hacker places themselves between the user and the e-commerce site which makes the new connection for the theft of information and also tracks the user’s activity.

Bad bots

The bots are an autonomous program that helps to interact with other systems. So, the hackers send a malicious bot into the e-commerce website cart page and make the customer pay ten times the amount.

Conclusion

The mentioned e-commerce security risks may be frightening, but there are ways to stop them from affecting the e-commerce marketplace. While some require specialized software, others can be implemented with no additional effort. Beyond safeguarding the online store, the customers will appreciate that their personal information and data are kept private.