E-Commerce Security: Risks, Mitigation, and Recommendations Report

This research report delves into the critical realm of e-commerce security, analyzing the vulnerabilities and risks inherent in online transactions. The study identifies key threats such as denial-of-service attacks, brute force attacks, phishing, and others, emphasizing their potential impact on businesses and consumers. The report outlines a comprehensive risk management framework, encompassing risk identification, assessment, and mitigation strategies. Through an extensive literature review and data collection from various sources, the research explores different approaches to mitigating these risks, including encryption, digital signatures, firewalls, and regular security updates. The research also highlights the importance of cryptographic technologies in securing e-commerce transactions. Furthermore, the report discusses the research methodology, including the research philosophy, approach, design, data collection and analysis methods, and ethical considerations. The findings of the research are presented and analyzed, and the report concludes with recommendations for enhancing e-commerce security, addressing limitations, and suggesting avenues for future research in this rapidly evolving field. The report aims to provide insights into e-commerce security and the development of the most effective protection strategies. The report is a contribution to Desklib, a platform offering AI-based study tools for students.

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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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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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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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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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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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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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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Figure 18: Responses on use of encryption as risk mitigation approach...........................61
Figure 19: Responses on use of digital signature as risk mitigation approach..................62
Figure 20: Responses on use of firewall as risk mitigation approach...............................63
Figure 21: Responses on importance of regular security updates.....................................64
Figure 22: Responses on use of cryptographic technique as risk mitigation approach.....65
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Research Topic: E-Commerce Security
Chapter 1: Introduction
1.1. Background of the study
In this era of technology, e commerce has become a significant need of every individual.
E-commerce has become an important consideration as it offers the business a whole new range
of opportunities that includes increase of marketing opportunities along with the generation of
more sales. The reason behind generation of more sales can be benefits that are offered by e-
commerce. With e commerce, it becomes easier to buy and sell goods from the convenience of
home. Thus, it becomes mandatory to ensure security in e-commerce. E-commerce security can
be described as a set of protocols that can be used for safely guiding transaction in e commerce.
The e-commerce security although provides a number of benefits and convenience to the
consumers, any online transaction related to e commerce security can be risky as it is associated
with cyber risk and cybercrime. The threats associated with ecommerce include threats from
credit card fraud, hacking and loss of personal derails. Advanced e-commerce security is
implemented by major business organizations in order to ensure that any unauthorised e-
commerce transaction is prevented. E-commerce is a platform that offers the business with a
whole new range of opportunities and therefore, security risk management becomes vital for e
commerce. However, the ease, that an ecommerce system provides ensures that a large number
of customer will continue to use the e-commerce system. The e-commerce transactions are
important as it enhances the normal operations and normal business flow. Researchers prove that
a majority of the purchases in recent years are done online and this number is expected to
increase. Therefore, it becomes essential to ensure appropriate security in e-commerce. The
research will be evaluating the risks and the ecommerce security options.
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1.2. Research Aims and Objectives
In order to carry out the research in a specific manner, it becomes essential to identify the
aims and the objectives of the research. The thesis will be elaborating the process by which the
ecommerce security can be enforced in a transaction. The e commerce transaction is associated
with the generation of sensitive information and therefore appropriate security measures are
needed to be ensured. The research scope is to evaluate the existing literatures and collect data
about E commerce security to recommend appropriate solution to the e commerce security
problem.
1.2.1. Aims of the study
The aim of the study is to identify the risks associated with e commerce transaction and
to evaluate the different security measures that can help in ensuring secure e commerce
transaction.
1.2.2. Objectives of the study
The objectives identified for the thesis are as follows-
 To identify the risks associated with the ecommerce transactions
 To understand the source of risk related to ecommerce
 To evaluate the risk mitigation options in E-commerce
 To recommend secure usage of E-commerce
1.3. Research Questions
The primary research question identified for the thesis is identified below-
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 Why is E commerce Security Important?
In support to the primary research question, certain secondary research questions are
identified. The secondary research questions identified for the research are as follows-
 What are the risks associated with e commerce?
 Why is mitigation of the risk in ecommerce important?
1.4. Problem Statement
It is quite vital to identify the issues associated with e-commerce since the use of e
commerce is set to increase in future. Considering the rapid development and increase in use of e
commerce, the security risks associated with the ecommerce is needed to be evaluated as well. E
commerce is an advantage mainly because of the ease of access it provides along with the
advantage of performing a transaction online as per the convenience. Thus, it is clear that the use
of e-commerce is likely to increase over the years. It therefore becomes mandatory for business
organizations to ensure effective security measures so as to protect the e commerce transactions
from any sort of cyber threat. The risks management process in E commerce will incorporate
identification of the risks and issues and therefore it becomes essential to identify the process by
which the risks can be identified and mitigated. Since, mitigation of the risks related to e
commerce security is important, it becomes essential to identify appropriate process of achieving
the same.
1.5. Rationale of the study
The research aims in evaluating the security risks related to e-commerce. The risks in
ecommerce is a major issue since it is vulnerable to the phishing attacks, distributed denial of
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