Short note on the threat to e-commerce security

By Justin Jones Last updated Nov 11, 2022

Short note on the threat to e-commerce security: The act of purchasing and selling goods through the use of the internet is referred to as “e-commerce.” To put it more simply, it refers to the business dealings that are carried out on the internet.

E-commerce can make use of a wide variety of technologies, including mobile commerce, Internet marketing, online transaction processing, electronic funds transfer, supply chain management, electronic data interchange (EDI), inventory management systems, and automated data collection systems, amongst others.

The use of the internet for dishonest reasons with the intention of theft, fraud, and security breaches is a practice that constitutes an e-commerce threat. There are numerous kinds of dangers associated with an online business. There are some that are unintentional, some that are done on purpose, and some that are the result of human error.

Electronic payment systems, electronic cash, improper use of data, fraudulent use of credit or debit cards, and other types of security breaches are the most typical types of threats.

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Short note on the threat to e-commerce security

E-commerce has quickly become an everyday aspect of human existence thanks to the rapid development of technology in the areas of computer, mobile, and network connectivity. Customers have the ability to shop online from the comfort of their own homes, freeing up more time for them to devote to other pursuits. There is no requirement for going to a store or a shop at this time.

The buyer can select many stores on the internet in a very short amount of time and compare the products with a variety of qualities including price, color, and quality.

In the world of online business, the various methods of electronic payment play a crucial part. Companies that engage in e-commerce often make use of paperless monetary transactions referred to as electronic payment systems. It drastically cut down on the amount of paperwork, transaction expenses, and labor costs, which in turn led to a revolution in company processing.

Processing orders through an online store is more efficient and less time-consuming than processing orders manually. The growth of a company organization’s market reach can be aided by the practice of electronic commerce. There is a possibility of fraud associated with the use of electronic payment systems.

The Risk of Fraud

The potential for theft in an electronic payment system is significant. For the purpose of authorizing a payment, the computer devices consult identifying information about the person, such as passwords and security questions. The use of these authentications is not sufficient in and of itself to determine a person’s true identity.

If the user enters the correct password and the correct answers to the security questions, the system will not care who is on the other end of the connection. If someone is able to get their hands on our password or the answers to our security questions, then they will be able to access our money and take it without our permission.

The Risk of Tax Evasion

In order to ensure that businesses are paying the appropriate amount of taxes, the law enforced by the Internal Revenue Service mandates that businesses must report their financial dealings and produce paper records. The issue with electronic technologies is that they do not provide cleanly into the paradigm that we are working with.

The procedure of collecting taxes becomes extremely aggravating for the Internal Revenue Service as a result of this. Disclosure of payments made or received through the use of electronic payment systems is left up to the discretion of the firm. It is quite simple to avoid paying taxes because the Internal Revenue Service does not have any way of verifying whether or not a taxpayer is speaking the truth.

The Risk of Payment Conflicts

In electronic payment systems, the actual processing of payments is done not by humans but rather by an automated electronic system. When the system processes several payments to multiple recipients on a regular basis while handling big amounts of money, it increases the likelihood that errors will occur.

It is vital to verify our pay slip often following the conclusion of each pay period in order to guarantee that everything is accurate and makes sense. If you don’t do this, it could lead to payment disputes that are brought about by inconsistencies and technological hiccups in the system.

E-cash

E-cash is a cashless payment method that eliminates the need for physical currency and enables anonymous monetary transfers. The use of e-cash does not cost the user anything, but the merchants who accept it must pay a fee. E-cash funds can be saved either on the card itself or in an account that is associated with the card. Both options are available to users. The most well-known types of electronic cash systems include the transit card, PayPal, Google Pay, Paytm, and others.

Electronic currency is composed of four primary parts.

Issuers can either be banks or other institutions that are not banks.
Users who make purchases with e-cash are referred to as customers.
Merchants and Traders are the individuals or businesses that are paid with e-cash.
They are connected to authorities or state tax agencies and are known as regulators.

When we used e-cash, we would save sensitive financial information on a computer, another electronic device, or even on the internet, making it susceptible to cyberattacks. Among the most significant dangers posed by the e-cash system are the following:

Backdoors Attacks

It is a form of attack that allows an attacker to get unauthorized access to a system by avoiding the typical authentication procedures. This type of attack is known as a bypass attack. Because it operates in the background and conceals itself from the user, it is difficult to identify and uninstall after it has been installed.

Denial of service attacks

A denial-of-service attack, also known as a DoS attack, is a type of security attack in which the perpetrator takes action that stops authorized users from accessing the targeted electronic equipment. By momentarily interfering with the operations of a host that is linked to the Internet, it renders a network resource inaccessible to the people for whom it was designed.

Direct Access Attacks

The attacker gains physical access to the computer in order to carry out an attack known as a direct access attack, which involves the intruder doing an unlawful action on the computer and installing various kinds of software in order to compromise its security. These kinds of software are infected with worms, which then download a significant quantity of sensitive information from the victims targeted.

Eavesdropping

This is an illegal method of eavesdropping on private communications that are taking place across the network. As a result, the sender of the messages and the recipient of the messages are not aware that their discussion is being tracked because it does not interfere with the normal operations of the targeting system.

Credit/Debit card fraud

Using a credit card gives us the ability to make purchases by temporarily borrowing money from the bank that issued the card. The condition that the cardholder will pay back the borrowed money with an additional charge that has been agreed upon is a term that is imposed by the entity that issued the credit card.

A debit card is a type of plastic card that can be used instead of cash when making purchases. A debit card is issued by a financial institution to account holders who already have a savings deposit account with the institution. Only when there are sufficient funds in the associated bank account can the debit card be used.

The following are some of the most significant risks linked with the use of debit and credit cards:

ATM (Automated Teller Machine)-

It is the go-to location for thieves since they know they can get away with stealing our card information there. The following are examples of some of the most common methods that criminals employ to obtain our credit card information:

Skimming-

It is the act of affixing a device capable of skimming data onto the card reader of an automated teller machine. When a consumer swipes their credit card through the reader at an ATM, the information that is on the magnetic stripe on the card is transferred to the device. By acting in this manner, the criminals gain knowledge of the details of the card, including its number, name, and CVV number, as well as its expiration date and other information.

Unwanted Presence-

It is against the rules for more than one person to utilize the automated teller machine at the same time. When we notice more than one person hanging around together, we should assume that their goal is to distract us from paying attention to our card details while we are conducting the transaction.

Vishing/Phishing

Phishing is an activity in which sensitive information about a user, such as a user’s password, login, and credit card information, was obtained by an unauthorized third party, typically for malicious intentions, among other reasons.

Vishing is an activity in which sensitive information about a person is collected by an intruder through the sending of SMS messages on mobile devices. These text messages and phone calls come across as coming from a trustworthy source, but in reality, they are not. The primary goal of both vishing and phishing is to obtain the personal identification number (PIN), account information, and passwords of the target consumer.

Online Transaction

Customers have the ability to conduct online transactions, such as shopping and bill payment, through the use of the internet. It is just as simple for the customer to hack into our system and steal our confidential information as it is for the consumer to use our service. During a transaction online, some of the most critical methods by which our sensitive information could be stolen are:

by downloading software into our computers that monitor our keystrokes and takes our passwords and other sensitive information.
Then take a customer to a phony website that has been designed to look just like the genuine one, and by using this website to steal confidential information.
Using free Wi-Fi in public places

POS Theft

When a purchase is made at a merchant’s store, it is often done at the point of sale (POS). When this occurs, the salesperson accepts the customer’s card in order to make the payment, but secretly captures the customer’s card details so that they can use them later.

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