Security issues of e-commerce

Question

A local manufacturer of work gloves and gardening gloves has been enjoying moderate success in its local markets with a physical sales team. The president is convinced that an e-commerce site could significantly increase sales, particularly on the international market.

Explain to the president the security issues of e-commerce.

Answer 1

Although the use of ecommerce to improve sales is a thought on every business leaders mind. They need to be aware of all the aspects associated with a decision of such nature. They are most probably aware of the advantages that an ecommerce solution might bring, but they hardly seem to be aware of the dangers associated with using an ecommerce solution:

1. There are constantly new threats emerging, and thus it might so happen that a dedicated team would have to be employed to keep the website up & running and the costs might be slightly higher than the gains that we would realise using an ecommerce solution.

2. The occurrence of fraud may also take place, where a competitor might set up a shop just like ours and divert business to their site (phishing).

3. The hardware for ecommerce may require separate physical protection, this might be easily provided. But the need for logical security may require an outside consultant. And internal and external audits would also have to be conducted to ensure proper practices and policies are maintained.