E-Business Security

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One of the biggest hesitations to E-business is the potential security threats. As an IT-manager what steps would you take to ensure your businesses online system was safe for customers to use?

In 2011, there were 5.5 billion malware attacks, an 80% increase over 2010. The actual number of virus programs has increased by 40% from 2010-2011. 4500 attacks occur each day (Haley, 2011). The point is that the chances of data loss for an ecommerce firm over time is very high. The problem is that older methods of security have become increasingly vulnerable. The solution must be some combination of methods.

Security remains one of the gravest threats to the otherwise sunny world of ecommerce. There is no perfect security system, and all have holes and weaknesses that increasingly sophisticated hackers can exploit (Williams, 2001 and Herley, 2009). One approach is biometrics. That is, the confirmation of one's identity though actual physical traits. Many security agencies such as the Border Patrol are using these. Such things as fingerprint, optical or facial recognition are increasingly being used. This can solve many security problems, but of course, comes with a cost of technocratic dominance over our person (Grimes, 2008).

The primary tactic to keep in mind when building an ecommerce security system is overlapping methods. Using a single firewall, for example, can be an invitation to breach. Using different methods of verification, pass-codes and cookie protection will be far more helpful. Layers of security make hacking difficult, but as always, comes at the cost of user convenience. Audits of the security system are a needed expense. Hiring a firm that specializes in this can be helpful, and using that firm can be a part of your ecommerce advertising, (e.g. "This site ...