E-Commerce Security: Risks and Mitigation Measures

Running head: E-COMMERCE SECURITY
Research Topic: E-Commerce Security
Name of Student
Name of University
Author Note

E-COMMERCE SECURITY
Acknowledgement
This research has helped me improve my knowledge in the field of research along with my
analytical ability. This particular research has helped be to face challenges and has helped me in
conquering the challenges. Without the help of my supervisor, this research would not have been
possible. I would also like to thank my professors and fellow companions who have helped me in
performing this research study. I would thank all the research participants who have helped me to
conduct this research successfully. Lastly, I want to thank my family for encouraging me to
undertake this work.
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E-COMMERCE SECURITY
Abstract
The research paper is related to ecommerce security and the risks in ecommerce transactions.
The research paper talks about different risks in the field of ecommerce. This particular study
aims in finding different approaches that can help in mitigation of the various risks and issues in
ecommerce. The basic risk management framework that is considered for this research study is
identification of the risk, assessment of risks and identification of various risk mitigation
approaches. The researcher has chosen a planned approach for this. The entire research has been
divided into certain manageable sections in form on different chapter. The research involves an
extensive literature review that identifies the risk and issues associated with ecommerce. The
major risk associated with the security in ecommerce involves denial of service attack, brute
force attack, Teardrop attack, phishing attack, social engineering and others. The risk mitigation
approaches for the identified risks are discussed in the research report. In order to identify the
different approaches to risk mitigation, data is collected from the literature review and from the
primary sources as well. The collected data from these sources has helped in understanding the
different approached to risk mitigation. Researcher paper identifies the research methods suitable
for this research. The aim of the research along with the research objective is identified in the
Introduction chapter of this paper. The research aims in identification of the major risks in
ecommerce transaction and to recommend the mitigation approaches for the risk. Collection of
primary data and quantitative data analysis have helped the researcher in finding solution to the
research problem. The research report further discusses the major research limitations and
discusses about the future work in this field of research. This is a small scale research in the field
of ecommerce.
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E-COMMERCE SECURITY
Table of Contents
Table of Tables....................................................................................................................6
Table of Figures...................................................................................................................7
Chapter 1: Introduction........................................................................................................9
1.1. Background of the study...........................................................................................9
1.2. Research Aims and Objectives...............................................................................10
1.2.1. Aims of the study.............................................................................................10
1.2.2. Objectives of the study....................................................................................10
1.3. Research Questions.................................................................................................10
1.4. Problem Statement..................................................................................................11
1.5. Rationale of the study.............................................................................................11
1.6. Structure of the Study.............................................................................................12
Chapter 2: Literature Review.............................................................................................15
2.1. Introduction.............................................................................................................15
2.2. Concept of Ecommerce...........................................................................................16
2.2.1. Advantages of Ecommerce to Organization....................................................16
2.2.2. Advantages of Ecommerce to the Customers..................................................17
2.2.3. Advantages of Ecommerce to the Society.......................................................17
2.2.4. Disadvantages of ecommerce..........................................................................18
2.2.5. Ecommerce Models.........................................................................................19
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E-COMMERCE SECURITY
2.3. Risks associated with Ecommerce Transactions................................................20
2.4. Privacy and Security Risks in Ecommerce.............................................................21
2.4.1. Risks and Security in the Way of E-commerce Transactions..........................23
2.5. Ecommerce Risks and Mitigation...........................................................................25
2.6. Risk Management in reducing the risks in Ecommerce.........................................26
2.7. Proposed Risk Mitigation Approaches...................................................................27
2.8. Conceptual Framework...........................................................................................28
2.9. Chapter Summary...................................................................................................29
Chapter 3: Methodology and Research Activity...............................................................31
3.1. Introduction.............................................................................................................31
3.2. Research Activity........................................................................................................31
3.3. Research Philosophy...................................................................................................32
3.3.1. Justification of Research Philosophy: Positivism............................................33
3.4. Research Approach.....................................................................................................34
3.4.1. Justification for Research Approach: Inductive..............................................35
3.5. Research Design.........................................................................................................35
3.5.1. Justification for the chosen Research Design: Descriptive..............................36
3.6. Data Collection Process..............................................................................................36
3.7. Sampling Method........................................................................................................37
3.7.1. Sample Size.....................................................................................................37
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E-COMMERCE SECURITY
3.8. Data Analysis Method............................................................................................37
3.9. Ethical Consideration..................................................................................................38
Chapter 4: Results and Analysis........................................................................................39
4.1. Introduction.............................................................................................................39
4.2. Data Analysis..........................................................................................................39
4.2.1. Demographic Data Analysis............................................................................39
4.2.2. Quantitative Data Analysis..............................................................................43
4.3. Chapter Summary...............................................................................................58
Chapter 5: Discussion and Recommendations..................................................................60
5.1. Introduction.............................................................................................................60
5.2. Discussion...............................................................................................................60
5.3. Recommendations...................................................................................................68
5.4. Chapter Summary...................................................................................................69
Chapter 6: Conclusion, Key Findings and Future Work...................................................71
6.1. Conclusion..................................................................................................................71
6.2. Linking with Objectives.............................................................................................72
6.3. Recommendations.......................................................................................................74
6.4. Limitations of research...............................................................................................75
6.5 Future scope of the study.............................................................................................75
References..........................................................................................................................77
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E-COMMERCE SECURITY
Table of Tables
Table 1: Representing the age demography of the respondents........................................39
Table 2: Representing responses of the respondents.........................................................40
Table 3: Reponses regarding the Type of Ecommerce......................................................42
Table 4: Responses about Ecommerce benefits.................................................................43
Table 5: Responses regarding ecommerce in increasing global reach..............................45
Table 6: Responses regarding ecommerce in increasing transactional Risks....................46
Table 7: Responses regarding the risks in ecommerce......................................................48
Table 8: Responses regarding the preventive measures in ecommerce.............................50
Table 9: Responses on Encryption as a Risk Management Approach..............................51
Table 10: Responses on digital signature as a Risk Management Approach....................53
Table 11: Responses on firewall as a Risk Management Approach..................................54
Table 12: Responses on regular security update as a Risk Management Approach..........56
Table 13: Responses on use of cryptographic technologies as Risk Management
Approach........................................................................................................................................57
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E-COMMERCE SECURITY
Table of Figures
Figure 1: Representing the ecommerce Transaction.........................................................22
Figure 2: Representing the Conceptual Framework of the Research................................27
Figure 3: Representing the age of the respondents............................................................38
Figure 4: Representing the responses................................................................................40
Figure 5: The reposes regarding the type of ecommerce transaction................................41
Figure 6: Representing the responses about ecommerce benefit.......................................43
Figure 7: Representing the responses about ecommerce in global reach..........................44
Figure 8: Representing the responses about role of ecommerce in increasing transactional
Risks..............................................................................................................................................46
Figure 9: Representing the responses about the Risks in Ecommerce..............................48
Figure 10: Representing the preventive measures in Ecommerce.....................................50
Figure 11: Representing the responses regarding use of encryption as risk mitigation
approach.........................................................................................................................................51
Figure 12: Representing the responses regarding use of Digital Signature as risk
mitigation approach.......................................................................................................................53
Figure 13: Representing the responses regarding use of firewall as risk mitigation
approach.........................................................................................................................................54
Figure 14: Responses on regular security update as a Risk Management Approach........55
Figure 15: Responses on making use of cryptographic transaction as a Risk Management
Approach........................................................................................................................................56
Figure 16: Responses on the most significant Risk...........................................................59
Figure 17: Responses on Increase of Transactional Risks.................................................60
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