E Commerce Threats Businesses Should Know
- Phishing
It is one of the more common fraudulent practices by third parties where they pretend to be reputable companies to get sensitive information from victims. It can be in the form of an email, a text message, a fake business website or any other tool capable of communication.
- Spam
Senders with email containing ‘read receipt’ are able to see if the recipient has read the mail which is basically the reason why hackers are sending spam. It is to allow them to identify which are the ‘active emails‘ among the huge number of email addresses that they engage with.
Some of the spam emails also contain advertising links or ‘unsubscribe’ buttons that contain malware for the intention of infiltrating and destroying your system to steal the information for illegal use.
- Brute Force Attacks
Brute force attack is the simplest way for unauthorized personnel or an individual to hack into a victims’ sensitive information. The offender makes repeated attempts in trying out numerous password combinations in hopes to log in and break into the website.
- Bots
While ecommerce businesses often rely on the use of chatbots to communicate with their consumers, it is important for businesses to always be caution and identify potential bad bots that may have infiltrated their web.
Bad bots may buy items on special deals before the actual consumer does and then sell it at a higher price. Bad bots can also hoard onto items and cause them to be unavailable which results in a reduction in business sales.
It is crucial for businesses to implement security and have means to identify a bad bot because it can create illegitimate traffic flow to the website and causes lagging that can affect consumers’ satisfaction level and usage.
- Malware
Malware is the name for multiple software variants such as viruses, trojans and spyware created by hackers that infiltrate a network and cause it to damage the system or data. Their objective is to make money by spreading these malwares. Some of these malware will transfer a customer’s click into the advertisement on the hacker’s web. Which in turn, allows the hackers to earn money.
- Spoofing
Phishing is to pretend to be someone asking victims for sensitive information while spoofing is stealing an identity from a legitimate user to get sensitive information from victims. Spoofing can be in the form of an email or by a phone number. The purpose of spoofing is to spread malware through multiple links that are already infected, to have access to the system or steal sensitive data.
- Insider Job
Insider job means someone from within the business team that removes, steals or reveals sensitive information and exploits them for personal use or some other gains.
E Commerce Practices Businesses Should Implement
Other than the very basic to good E commerce security practices such as having a reliable gateway payment system, anti-virus software so that hackers can be deterred away from unauthorized usage, we also have the good practice of backup and updating the system frequently in order to keep all these implemented securities in the most updated version. Below are some other good practices and solutions an E commerce web can implement to prevent unauthorised third parties from accessing the company as well as the consumers’ sensitive information.
- Firewall
Firewall is a security system that helps to identify and filter out unwanted traffic and malicious software that are targeting the system. Its main function is like a security gate that checks incoming traffic and safeguard the system where only trusted sources or IP addresses are able to enter.
- Secure Socket Layer (SSL) Certificates
E commerce that deals with transactions and consumer details require a SSL certificate so that all information is encrypted to protect it from disruption by unauthorized third parties. The certificate also acts as an identity of ownership so that hackers are unable to use the owner’s legitimate site for illegal purposes such as phishing.
- Payment Card Industry (PCI) compliance
It is a mandatory compliance where E commerce business owners have to comply. The PCI is a set of security requirements in order to ensure the web is able to provide transactioning, storing and maintaining data in a safe E commerce environment.
- Educating staff members and consumers
Perhaps the most basic precaution for businesses on E commerce is to constantly educate their staff members and consumers about the possible threats and solutions available.
Through educating, staff members will know how to spot suspicious transactions and know what to do or the necessary counter to stop unauthorized third parties from damaging the system and steal information.
It is good practice to always alert consumers on any existing threats and educate them on the measures or steps to take in order not to fall prey to it.