Security And Fraud Issues In E-Commerce Essay.

Security and Fraud issues in E-commerce

Question:

Discuss about the Security and Fraud Issues Faced by eBusiness.

The aim of the current assignment is to highlight upon all types of security and fraud issues that can be encountered by Clicktowear.com, which is an e-business stores that offers all types of clothing and apparels. It is relevant to mention that security and fraud issues are one of the major concerns for all types of e-business organization. This is also currently one of the major weak points of all E-Commerce business. In the current age there is a massive increase in the volume of trade that occurs through online digital process. Huge amount of funds and business information are passed through online process, which increases the security risk of fraud transaction and data breach.

One of other drawbacks of the e-Commerce is associated with the ethical and legal guidelines that are associated with entire business. Every business organizations like Clicktowear.com need to follow new ethical and legal protocols in order to carry out their E-Commerce business. The current report will aim to provide mitigation plan that will help Clicktowear.com and other business firms to deal with the issues related to security, fraud and ethical matters. This will help to increase the popularity of e-business and improve over their brand reputation.

As the popularity of e, business or eCommerce have risen significantly in the current age, more number of business transactions are occurring with the help of digital process. The business organization of e commerce section is entirely dependent upon web service and technological infrastructure to carry out on business transaction process. Taylor et al. (2014), have highlighted upon the malicious software that is a major security issue that is associated with Internet technology. There have been several reported cases related to Malware function that have resulted in business Data loss about information related to financial transaction. According to the report of Hashizume et al. (2013), all over the world wide Nearly 2 billion dollar is lost each year due to security fraud cases in eBusiness transactions.

There are also several cases related to design of software bug that have the potential to hack information related to business transaction. The software bugs result in various types of errors that occur in a business website. Major security issues like site crash can also allow the hackers to steal away valuable information, thereby increasing the risk of financial loss for both the customers and business organization. This is possible due to the fact that hackers can have easy access to the information related to bank account details and credit card of the users.

Mitigation Plan for Clicktowear.com

Laudon and Traver (2013), have mentioned in this context that most of the trade related to e-business is associated with excessive use of Internet that can increase the risk of physical data theft. In many cases the E-commerce website keep Backup storage information that is necessary in emergency cases of data loss. This can also increase the risk of security due to the fact that it is easily possible for the cyber criminals to access the backup information.

Major E-Commerce business is dependent on wireless Internet Communication Technology. This can also be a major risk due to the fact that there is a high probability that outsiders can also connect with the wireless devices and get access to classified information of business strategies. In spite of security password there is highest that the wired communication devices are easily accessible to outside cyber criminals (Singhal et al. 2013).

For large scale business organization like Clicktowear.com, has to form business partnership with various other third party organizations. It is important to note that verifying The Identity of the third party organizations through online transaction process is a challenge for the operational department. The online communication process is also highly risky due to the fact that it is easily possible for the outsiders to encrypt the content of the communication process.   Turban et al. (2017), have mentioned about the fact that progress in the Encryption Algorithm by the cyber criminals the current days has been a major concern. With the process of encryption it is a really possible to hack the password of an individual and get detail access to personal information. On the other hand, high level of encryption is being processed in order to protect the security password that is provided to save the classified level of information.

All E-commerce website and associated with the system of data integration, which help the website to easily identify all registered clients. It is important to note that there is a gap that exists within the system of authentication process that is necessary to identify all potential customers. Due to the fact that there are high levels of loopholes in a verification process, it is not easily possible for cyber criminals to hack valuable information.

Niranjanamurthy et al. (2013), have highlighted open the trust concern which is a major cause of security problem in e-business transaction. It is important for all eCommerce websites to gain the trusted advantage of the customers. This is essential the process of earning reputation among the customer. The E-business transactions have to deal with business to business and business to customer type. There have been many reported cases related to security breach within implementing e business strategies of B2B or B2Ç types. All this have resulted in major financial loss from both the end of buyer and sellers.

Ethical and Legal Issues in E-commerce

It is important for the business plan of Clicktowear.com to implement mitigation plan to deal with all type of security and fraud risk related to e-business transaction. According to Turban et al. (2018), the primary step that is needed in the mitigation plan is to identify all security threats that are associated with e-business transaction process. As mentioned previously trust factor is one of the major concern related to business transaction in the E-Commerce section. In this context, it can be said that in the initial stage it is essential for the E-commerce website to develop strong business relationship with all types of online vendors. This will help them to provide maximum level of security that is needed for all high level of online business transaction process.

One of the major highlighting points about the e-business transaction is about the fact that it allows all types of business information easily accessible to the public domain. It is essential for business organizations like Clicktowear.com to use the latest form of Business Technology and infrastructure in designing of the website. This step will help in the process of dealing with complex level of information that is needed to deal with the business transaction through online procedures. The research work of Hossain et al. (2015), have highlighted up on the importance of well resourced formal organization that is needed in dealing with purpose related to Holistic security of e-business infrastructure. This can be achieved by increasing the trust level of Internet usage and acceptability by all business stakeholders. Integrated safety measures need to be the primary essential requirement of technological infrastructure. The database of the E-commerce website needs to enable with high level of security to protect the classified information. The change process of the business scenario need to be integrated with specific security measures, which can guarantee maximum possible safety for the business transaction process.

Globalization process has been one of the key driving factors that have increased the popularity of digital business communication process. The online trading is highly dependent upon technological infrastructure that is available within the consumer market. It is important to note that e-business organizations are often dependent on various levels of employees, who are recruited from all over the globe. In order to increase the trust factor, it is important to implement essential recruitment plan, which will help the company to rely upon the workers. They also need to be strong security protocol for every employee, which will not allow them to misuse the classified company information and compromise upon the security level. The mitigation plan for online security also needs to implement proper training programs for the employees, which will help them to deal with all issues related to Cyber crimes. With having high level of Technical skills, it is possible for the employees to use professional technique for dealing with all business communication process. This will reduce the risks that are associated with data breach and Internet Malware programming. High level of penalty also needs to be included within the protocol of the company.

Conclusion

The overall mitigation plan needs to properly identify all the security threats that can compromise upon the business reputation and cause financial loss. In the following step, it is essential to deal with specific issues at each level and implement a blueprint of the security plan.

With the first range of Internet advertisement, there is a strong rise of popularity of e-business. However, ethical and legal issues related to Internet and digital usage is also applicable with the E-commerce. The business operation of e-commerce is dependent upon using of detail information of the client. The tracking software has the ability to get detailed personal information, which can also be stored for further references. There has been a strong level of ethical concerns due to the security issues related to accessing personal information of the clients. Hence, as mentioned by Ladan (2014), privacy issue is one of the major ethical concerns related to online business transaction.

Cheng et al. (2014), have highlighted up on some of the major ethical concerns related to treatment of the E-Commerce business organization with employees. In many cases, the employees are being pushed in a critical zone that may eliminate them from the job. As mentioned in the previous section it is important for E-Commerce business organization to maintain a strong security protocol in relationship with every employee. However, in many cases the company seeks for personal level of information from the employee that can be other ethical issues.

The E-Commerce businesses are entirely dependent upon customers, choosing the desired product from the description that is provided within the website. In this contact there is high probability that website can provide false or fake information about product description. There are many reported cases about fake product being provided to the customers at lower prices (Kolhe 2016). This can have a serious impact upon the overall business reputation of e-commerce trading. There is also the risk that in many occasions products are being damaged in the supply chain process due to lack of proper packaging system. The damage product can also result in poor level of customer satisfaction that is an also one of the major ethical concerns.

Poor or fake information about product description can also raise legal concern. This can be direct example of violation in customer protection act. In order to provide product at lower cost, the eCommerce business organization compromise on product quality. Cases related to violation of Intellectual Property Rights are also a major legal concern in e-business transaction. Reports have highlighted up on violation in the intellectual property rights. There is also severing competition over the domain names that are being used by ECommerce websites. All business organizations aim to have a popular domain name, which can give them a competitive edge the fast growing eCommerce industry. However, in many cases business organizations adopt illegal ways to use domain names of third party web servers that can compromise upon the use of the company's legal and ethical reputation.

At the initial stage, it is essential for the e-commerce websites like Clicktowear.com to get detailed information about the legal and ethical matters related to respective business. The management of the company also needs to have a clear idea about the guidelines of the legal protocols that are being implemented for all online business transaction process. The company also needs to recruit special legal Advisors, which can help them in implementing business protocol that can help in improving upon the company's legal and ethical reputation (Raghunat and Panga 2013).

Providing real and actual description of the product is highly essential to ensure that they are able to seek the trust level of the customers. The company also needs to have proper return policy that can help in case; the customer receives poor or damaged products. Employees should be trained with proper protocol that can prevent them to misuse private information of the client. Strict protocol should be also implemented against every employee that misuses the information (Akman et al. 2017).

The company also needs to protect their intellectual property with the guidelines of respective guideline principles. The marketing campaigns of the E-commerce website also need to have proper ethical and legal guideline principle, which will have to provide proper and correct information to the customers. This will help in gaining the trust of the clients and thereby increase the popularity of online shopping trends among the customers.

Conclusion

In concluding note, it can be said that with the increase popularity of e-commerce business there is a growing security and legal issues related to the business transaction process. This can be a major threat to all the future business opportunities that are associated with e-business. It is essential for all E-Commerce business organization like Clicktowear.com to have strong business strategy to deal with the security and ethical concern related to online business. The legal protocol can also help in the process of improving the business protocol and trust level of the customers.

References

Akman, I., Akman, I., Mishra, A. and Mishra, A., 2017. Factors influencing consumer intention in social commerce adoption. Information Technology & People, 30(2), pp.356-370.

Cheng, H.F., Yang, M.H., Chen, K.Y. and Chen, H.L., 2014. Concerns regarding ethical issues associated with online shopping are growing. Based on a framework that captures all stages of a transactional process, this study developed a transaction process-based scale, the eTransEthics scale, for assessing the consumer-perceived ethics of e-commerce websites. The results of applying exploratory factor analysis to data from 406 online shoppers indicate that... Electronic Commerce Research and Applications, 13(1), pp.32-44.

Hashizume, K., Rosado, D.G., Fernández-Medina, E. and Fernandez, E.B., 2013. An analysis of security issues for cloud computing. Journal of Internet Services and Applications, 4(1), p.5.

Hossain, M.M., Fotouhi, M. and Hasan, R., 2015, June. Towards an analysis of security issues, challenges, and open problems in the internet of things. In Services (SERVICES), 2015 IEEE World Congress on (pp. 21-28). IEEE.

Kolhe, S.D., 2016. E-Commerce New Trends, Strategies, Issues, Challenges and Best Practices. KHOJ: Journal of Indian Management Research and Practices, pp.34-40.

Ladan, M.I., 2014, August. E-Commerce Security Issues. In Future Internet of Things and Cloud (FiCloud), 2014 International Conference on (pp. 197-201). IEEE.

Laudon, K.C. and Traver, C.G., 2013. E-commerce. Pearson.

Niranjanamurthy, M., Kavyashree, N., Jagannath, S. and Chahar, D., 2013. Analysis of e-commerce and m-commerce: advantages, limitations and security issues. International Journal of Advanced Research in Computer and Communication Engineering, 2(6).

Raghunath, A. and Panga, M.D., 2013. Problem and Prospects of e-commerce. International Journal of Research and Development-A Management Review (IJRDMR), 2(1), pp.59-68.

Singhal, M., Chandrasekhar, S., Ge, T., Sandhu, R., Krishnan, R., Ahn, G.J. and Bertino, E., 2013. Collaboration in multicloud computing environments: Framework and security issues. Computer, 46(2), pp.76-84.

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