Topic name: Secure An E-Commerce System
Context: Considering the extensive use of e-commerce systems in the world today, it is vital that they de secured, so as to prevent the theft of important details that pertain to online customers. For those who run online businesses, or have clients who do such business, it is rather evident that e-commerce sites are highly susceptible to online compromises, which are primarily from hackers and phishing attacks. Considering the large volumes of sensitive data that are used in such sites, such as credit card details, personal information of the consumers, and other such data, security is a pressing concern for not just the owners of such online businesses, but even for the consumers themselves, the fact that such stores are an easy target for online criminals. (Liu 2011)
Information/Literature Review: Before the initiation of any ecommerce project, it is necessary to ensure that the e-commerce systems are able to combat any security loopholes. One of the most common ways of reducing cases of security compromise would be to ensure a basic security check is initiated before an online retail set-up is created. This could then be followed by more detailed checks. SSL Certificates must be used at all costs, along with ensured compliance with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS). E-commerce systems must also work towards discarding old details of their transactions with customers. This is particularly with reference to credit card details and personal information. E-commerce systems must also make sure that they have Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) protection, along with services that are cloud-based. Security patches also need to be installed on the e-commerce system, on a regular basis, to prevent the possibility of any security compromise. (Zhang et al. 2012)
Motivations/Aims: The aim of this reportwould be to offer e-commerce systems with insight into the security breaches that are possible in these advanced times. This report will highlight some of the pressing security concerns that e-commerce systems face, while providing insight and corrective measures that can be implemented to combat security lapses of any kind. The report will also stress upon the most vulnerable areas as far as the compromise of security is concerned. It will aim to expose these flaws, with the intent of showing consumers and system developers just how they can steer clear of such hiccups in the future, where e-commerce is bound to expand by leaps and bounds. The review thus offers remedial action for the most commonly faced security problems in e-commerce systems.
Requirements: This review requires a sound understanding of the functioning of e-commerce systems, along with extensive knowledge about security compromises that occur during the execution of business activities online.
Time Schedule: The review requires a minimum of a month’s time to analyse the working of ecommerce systems that are used for varied purposes, after which it will be possible to offer precise guidelines to boost security boundaries.
References:
Zhang, Yajuan et al. 2012, Assessment of E-Commerce Security Using AHP and Evidential Reasoning,Expert Systems with Applications, Vol. 39, Iss. 3, pp. 3611-3623.
Liu, D 2011, E-commerce system security assessment based on grey relational analysis comprehensive evaluation, Viewed on 29 August 2014, http://www.aicit.org/JDCTA/ppl/32_JDCTA4-1189.pdf.