E-commerce Security and Legal Issues

This assignment delves into the critical realm of e-commerce security, analyzing prevalent threats such as online fraud, social engineering attacks, and identity theft. It further investigates the legal landscape governing online transactions, encompassing electronic signatures, consumer protection laws, and cybersecurity regulations. Students are tasked with evaluating the vulnerabilities inherent in e-commerce platforms and proposing mitigation strategies to safeguard businesses and consumers from these evolving risks.

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Assessment Item 3 – Mitigation Plan
Student’s Name
Course ID
University
Date
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Executive Summary
The management of an e-commerce business needs to understand the security and fraud
issues that are faced by the e-commerce businesses in the recent times. As the operations of the
firm is totally based on online platform, the vulnerability to security risk increases due to the
increase in hacking and information theft. It is important for the management of Style Icon to
consider the security and fraud issues to develop an adequate risk mitigation plan. Additionally,
the management of an e-commerce firm must take care of several ethical and legal requirements
in order to keep the firm safe from legal obligations and uncertainties during the course of
operations.
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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................4
Security and Fraud Issues................................................................................................................4
Mitigation Plan for security and fraud issues..................................................................................7
Ethical and Legal Issues................................................................................................................12
Solutions for addressing the ethical and legal issues.....................................................................13
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................15
References......................................................................................................................................17
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Introduction
E-commerce business set up requires fulfilling of a number of criteria protecting rights of
the buyers and target demographics. In this particular report, the major issues and challenges of
setting up the E-commerce business of a clothing retailer, Style Icon, have been discussed. In the
meanwhile, the potential security and fraud issues associated to the eBusiness have been
elaborated. Identification of the security and fraud related threats in E-commerce business will be
evident to develop a risk mitigation plan describing the methods to counter the potential security
concerns and online frauds (Anandarajan and Simmers, 2012).
By conducting the risk analysis associated to the eBusiness of Style Icon, an effective
mitigation plan has been developed to protect the business as well as the customers from
potential online threats and fraud issues (Hinde, 2015). Furthermore, the report has described the
potential ethical and legal challenges attached to the eBusiness of the retail company. In addition,
the study has investigated the key concepts related to the ethical and legal issues that might affect
the proceedings of the E-commerce business of Style Icon. At the end of the report, the process
that can be utilised to solve the ethical and legal issues affecting the eBusiness has been
discussed.
Security and Fraud Issues
The E-commerce business of Style Icon, the retail clothing brand has to deal with a
number of security and fraudulent issues in the online platform. In this particular section of the
report, the most evident security and fraudulent challenges to be faced by the eBusiness have
been analysed as follows:
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Privacy Concerns
Privacy of customers visiting the website has been a major challenge for the E-commerce
providers in the recent times. Due to technological advancement, theft of identity of the
consumers and impersonation has become some serious privacy concerns that must be handled
effectively by the E-commerce businesses (Kahn and Liñares-Zegarra, 2012). For instance, E-
commerce providers should deliver a secured online platform and payment gateway to the
customers so that private information such as credit card and debit card numbers will be kept
highly secure. Evidently, the E-commerce business of Style Icon must deliver disclaimer through
the privacy policies to maintain the privacy of the online customers both offline and online
(Martin, 2015).
Integrity, Client Authentication, and Non-repudiation
In any E-commerce business set up, data integrity, authentication of the target audience,
and non-repudiation can determine the sustainability of the business. In the E-commerce
business platform, Style Icon has to provide the assurance to the online customers that every data
transmitted is correct. In the meanwhile, the verification of the transmitted data will certify that
data has not tampered during the phase of transmission by any third party (Cheeseman, 2007). At
the same point of time, the authentication of the customers must be developed so that online
transactions will be secured. In addition, the E-commerce providers must deliver non-repudiation
towards the clients to assure the transactions through online medium.
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Technical Attacks
Technical attacks can be identified as one of the most serious challenges to be tackled by
the eBusiness organisations in terms of delivering security. For instance, Denial of service (DoS)
attacks can paralyse the normal activities of an E-commerce business. By overwhelming a
server, such attacks can create massive difficulty for the hosts (Roberts, 2013). Therefore, the E-
commerce business of Style Icon must develop defending efforts to deal with such security
challenges.
Phishing Attacks and Social Engineering
In case of describing the criminal fraudulent issues in the E-commerce business, the
phishing attack can be identified as the most concerning process. By using masquerading
technique applied in electronic communication, the process can hack any sensitive data and
information such as user name, credit card details, and high-security passwords, etc (Bottiglieri,
2011). Apart from that, social engineering is another fraudulent issue that can manipulate the
actions of users to divulge confidential and sensitive data and information. In this method,
fraudsters utilises Trojans horses, a malware system to get the sensitive data from the E-
commerce set up (Atkins and Huang, 2013). Meanwhile, these are the two most evident
fraudulent issues to be considered by eBusiness providers.
Email Frauds and Scams
Another major security problem that is faced by the e-commerce businesses in the recent
years is the email frauds and scams (Panwar, 2014). It can be seen that some thieves are sending
email on behalf of the company in order to collect private information of the customers.
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Recently, several cases of spam emails claiming that the receiver has won a huge amount of
price have been filed in Australia and several other countries (Panwar, 2014). This sort of scams
lead to loss of reputation of the firm and creates a feeling of insecurity among the customers.
Hence, it is important for the management of Style Icon to take care of such issues and make the
customers aware that the company will never ask for personal information such as credit card
number or passwords through email or phone calls.
Mitigation Plan for security and fraud issues
It is important for the Style Icon to develop a security and fraud risk mitigation plan in
order to keep the online transactions safe and maintain the safety of data of the consumers.
Furthermore, the risk mitigation plan is required by the firm to meet the legal terms and stay safe
from legal actions in the future (Hoffman and McGinley, 2010). The mitigation plan that can be
used by the e-commerce business has been presented herein below:
Mitigation Plan for Security and Fraud Issues
Activities Description Person Responsible
Develop a security and
fraud risk mitigation
policy
First of all the management of Style
Icon need to develop a policy statement
regarding the identification, analysis
and mitigation of security and fraud
risk in the e-commerce operations
(Costa, 2011). The policy document
will include the role of the key
members and their responsibilities in
IT management and
customer service
department
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controlling the issues.
Employee awareness
training
An employee awareness training
program must be organised by the
management to make the workers
aware of the security and fraud issues
(Martin, 2015). The training program
will teach the employees to handle such
situations and strengthen the workforce
in terms of security and fraud activities.
HR department
Use secure payment
gateway
Style Icon must use a secure third
party payment gateway in order to
make secure transactions of money
(Martin, 2015).
IT department
Use secure connection for
online checkout
The company must use Secure Sockets
Layer (SSL) authentication for the
website and data protection
(Cheeseman, 2013). It helps the
company and its customers from
getting the essential information stolen.
IT department
Do not store sensitive data It is important for the ecommerce
organisation to note that the website do
store sensitive data of the customers
such as CVV (Card Verification Value)
IT department
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Codes or passwords (Martin, 2015).
Implement a strong
verification system
The security or IT department of the
company will take care of the
verification system. For instance,
during the change of password, the
customer needs to use verified email id
and phone numbers (Martin, 2015).
Also, the customers have to answer
different verification questions in order
to change the password.
IT department
Set-up system alerts for
suspicious activity
The activities in the website and related
to the name of the company must be
tracked in order to get aware of any
sort of suspicious activities (Costa,
2011). The security department can set
up an alert notice for suspicious and
multiple transactions that take place
through a particular IP address.
IT department
Implement a whistle
blowing hotline
A whistle blowing hotline system must
be implemented that can be used by the
company to accept complaints from the
consumers regarding security and fraud
issues related to the company
Customer Service
department
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(Tomlinson, 2010).
Develop a security and
fraud response
management plan
The management of the firm must
develop a security and fraud response
management plan in order to answer
and solve the queries of the consumers
regarding the occurrence of such issues
(Costa, 2011).
IT department and
customer service
department
Create awareness The marketing department must create
awareness among the consumers
regarding the email and phone scams
that are taking place in the recent days
(Cheeseman, 2013). For instance, the
management can send mails or message
to the customers stating that the
company will never ask for personal
information and high security data
(Tomlinson, 2010). Additionally, the
company will never offer any sort of
suspicious offers or price money to the
consumers.
Customer service
department
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Ethical and Legal Issues
In the E-commerce business platform, Style Icon has to deal with a number of ethical
issues related to information technology that have been applied to the eBusiness. Although
vastness of internet popularity has delivered significant platform for E-commerce business, it is
the responsibility of the E-commerce providers to offer safe and secure transactions and access.
Effectively, the ethical and legal issues associated to the E-commerce business in Australia have
been discussed herein below:
Web Tracking
Web tracking has been identified as one of the major ethical challenges to any eBusiness.
E-commerce businesses draw customer related information using the log files. Furthermore, by
using cookie analysis and tracking software, E-commerce websites can trace the online
preferences and movement of the individual consumers (Salehnia, 2012). In the meanwhile, such
online application and tracking activities should be performed following ethical guidelines.
Privacy of Consumers
During the tracking and monitoring of the activities of the online consumers, privacy of
the visitors should be maintained by the E-commerce business. Precisely, the privacy policy of
the eBusiness must confirm that the portal will not save the sensitive and confidential data and
information of the clients following the ethical guidelines.
Internet Fraud
E-commerce fraud can be identified as one of the leading legal issues to be tackled by
any eBusiness. Therefore, as per the Australian Statutory Regulations, E-commerce business
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firms have to follow the guidelines and regulations stated in the Australian Consumer Law (Cth).
During the E-commerce business set up, the obligation of consumer law and cyber security terms
must be followed so that internet fraudulent through E-commerce portals can be avoided (Nasir,
2014).
Copyright
In developing the E-commerce business, the management of Style Icon must identify the
copyright laws that are implemented to protect the intellectual property of any business (Nasir,
2014). For instance, in case of purchasing software for commercial purpose should be utilised as
per the copyright laws. Also, copying contents for developing E-commerce portal should be
avoided to refrain from copyright laws.
Domain Names
In an E-commerce business, contest over the domain name can be termed as one of the
leading legal issues. Internet addresses of the E-commerce portals should be checked and
verified so that domain names cannot create untoward legal challenges (Cross et al., 2012).
Domain names are considered as trademark of a business. Hence, similar domain names should
be avoided to evade legal consequences.
Solutions for addressing the ethical and legal issues
In order to protect the E-commerce site from potential ethical and legal issues, security
experts’ solution and technological assistance must be taken into account. In the underlying
section, some of the solutions have been described as follows:
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Select a secure E-commerce Platform
Style Icon, the newly introduced apparel E-commerce business must choose a secure E-
commerce platform that utilises object-oriented programming language for the E-commerce
website. By using such secure platform, the E-commerce business can protect the administration
panel from the online attackers (Schiff, 2013). In this way, security of an E-commerce business
can be increased to handle the privacy issues and legal challenges.
Develop and get approval for ethical guidelines and legal policy
The management of Style Icon need to develop ethical and legal policy guidelines that
will be followed during all operations of the firm. It is important to keep in mind that the ethical
guidelines and legal policies are developed keeping in mind all sorts of e-transaction issues and
government policies (Schiff, 2013). The legal policy and ethical guideline documents must
include rules and regulations related to maintenance of customer privacy, security of customer
information, copyright statements, and domain information (Davies, 2008). Furthermore, the
ethical guidelines and legal policy documents must be verified by authorised bodies and proper
approval must be taken in order to start the e-business in the Australian market.
Consider all legal requirements and licensing
The management of Style Icon must consult with legal advisors to check whether the
policy and guidelines of the company match with the legal requirements. Furthermore, all
licensing requirements such as domain name, company incorporation certificate, and e-
commerce business license must be approved from the government of Australia (Schiff, 2013).
Additionally, the ethical requirements related to HR management must also be met by the firm.
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Describe the terms and conditions to the consumers and take their approval
The e-commerce website must provide all terms and conditions related to the formation
of the user accounts, the transactions e-commerce portal, and the product and services.
Additionally, proper approval of the consumers must be taken to know whether the customers
are aware of the terms and conditions through e-verification and e-signature of the users (Wales,
2013).
Take permission from the consumers while storing their data
The permission of the consumers must be taken while saving their personal data and
information. For instance, the company must mention that it will store the personal data of the
user such as email ID, address, name, phone number and other information (Landrock, 2012).
The mobile application of the company must ask for permission before using the device location
of the user.
Copyright terms and condition must be presented in the e-commerce portal
The copyright terms and conditions of the company must be presented in the e-commerce
portal to be safe from misuse and reuse of data by other companies. Additionally, the copyright
regulations must state that no third party is allowed to use the information and pictures available
over the website for commercial purpose (Landrock, 2012).
Conclusion
By considering the above analysis, it can be seen that an e-commerce business like Style
Icon need to face several security and fraud related risk while and after commencing its
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operations. Hence, it is important for the management of the firm to identify the security and
fraud risk to develop a proper risk mitigation plan. Furthermore, the company needs to face
several ethical and legal challenges that must be considered in order to operate safely and
smoothly in the Australian market. Conclusively, proper security risk mitigation plan and
consideration of the ethical and legal requirements can be helpful for the company to be safe
from legal obligations and future uncertainties.
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References
Anandarajan, M. and Simmers, C. (2012). Managing web usage in the workplace. 2nd ed.
Hershey, Pa.: IGI Global (701 E. Chocolate Avenue, Hershey, Pennsylvania, 17033, USA).
Atkins, B. and Huang, W. (2013). A Study of Social Engineering in Online Frauds. Open
Journal of Social Sciences, 01(03), pp.23-32.
Bottiglieri, W. (2011). Electronic Signatures And The Statute Of Frauds. Journal of Business
Case Studies (JBCS), 4(1), p.113.
Cheeseman, H. (2007). The legal environment of business and online commerce. 2nd ed. Upper
Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson Prentice Hall.
Cheeseman, H. (2013). Business law. 1st ed. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson/Prentice Hall.
Costa, E. (2011). Global e-commerce strategies for small businesses. 3rd ed. Cambridge, Mass.:
The MIT Press.
Cross, F., Miller, R., Cross, F. and Cross, F. (2012). The legal environment of business. 3rd ed.
Mason, Ohio: South-Western.
Davies, A. (2008). The development of laws on electronic documents and e-commerce
transactions. 1st ed. Ottawa: Library of Parliament.
Hinde, S. (2015). Identity theft: theft, loss and giveaways. Computer Fraud & Security, 5(5),
pp.18-20.
Hoffman, S. and McGinley, T. (2010). Identity theft. 2nd ed. Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-CLIO.
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Kahn, C. and Liñares-Zegarra, J. (2012). Identity Theft and Consumer Payment Choice: Does
Security Really Matter?. SSRN Electronic Journal.
Landrock, P. (2012). Security — the Building Block for E-commerce Growth. Computer Fraud
& Security, 20(9), pp.7-8.
Martin, E. (2015). Managing information technology. 4th ed. Upper Saddle River, N.J.:
Pearson/Prentice Hall.
Nasir, M. (2014). Legal issues involved in E-commerce. Ubiquity, p.2.
Panwar, A. (2014). Cyber Crime Through Social Engineering. SSRN Electronic Journal.
Roberts, M. (2013). Internet marketing. 3rd ed. Boston, Mass.: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.
Salehnia, A. (2012). Ethical issues of information systems. 3rd ed. Hershey: IRM Press.
Schiff, J. (2013). 15 Ways to Protect Your Ecommerce Site From Hacking and Fraud. [online]
CIO. Available at: https://www.cio.com/article/2384809/e-commerce/15-ways-to-protect-your-
ecommerce-site-from-hacking-and-fraud.html [Accessed Oct. 2017].
Tomlinson, M. (2010). Tackling E-commerce Security Issues Head On. Computer Fraud &
Security, 5(11), pp.10-13.
Wales, E. (2013). E-commerce Counts Cost of Online Card Fraud. Computer Fraud & Security,
15(1), pp.9-11.
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