The face of the business world is changing rapidly as more and more companies and consumers utilise the World Wide Web as a tool to enhance their selling reach or shopping experience. However, along with this change to business, many Internet pirates, terrorists, hackers and frauds have come on the scene to take advantage of the relative anonymity of committing Internet crimes and the vulnerability of many e-businesses and e-shoppers.
This threat to businesses is very serious. Businesses that are connected to the web can be “crippled� and “closed down by an attack� as Internet criminals destroy and steal information, money, company reputation, and brand value (Dawe, 2004).
However, despite this risk, businesses don't seem to take the necessary precautions. Business commentator Richard Cork was quoted in The Times as saying “companies spend more on corporate coffee than on security� (Dawe, 2004). This lackadaisical approach Cork refers to leaves many companies exposed to vicious internet crimes.
In fact a survey conducted by QinetiQ, Britain’s privatised defence research agency, discovered that although three-quarters of Britain’s company directors surveyed were concerned about corporate security, only half say that their company is about to or already has embarked on taking online security measures. Even more staggering, only one in five of the company directors can name an online security organization (Dawe, 2004).
QinetiQ chairman, Dame Pauline Neville-Jones, describes the risk of being attacked online as so great that each company should elect a chief security officer on their board to minimise the risks (Dawe, 2004). MI5, a government online security service, identifies the different types of online attacks as hacking, malicious software, malicious modification of hardware, and denial of service (www.mi5.gov.uk/output/Page236.html).
Hacking relates to all attempts at gaining unauthorised access to computer systems. Malicious software (such as viruses, worms and Trojans) vary in form but are usually the result of downloading or opening an email. Malicious modification of hardware involves modifying hardware to mount or permit an attack on a computer system. Denial of service is an attack on a system whereby unwanted data floods a computer’s system until it can no longer run properly.
MI5 suggest that even though each attack is particular and should be dealt with trusted experts, there are procedures that can be taken to minimise the risk of being attacked. MI5 suggest that companies buy systems from trusted manufacturers and suppliers, employ experienced and reputable staff to look after your system, encrypt all important files, back-up all information, destroy all confidential material no longer needed and consult security advice services to pre-empt attacks (www.mi5.gov.uk/output/Page236.html).
However it is not just the companies that are in danger of great loses, the users participating in online shopping are also at great risk. The buyers may find that once they’ve bought a product over the net, the product they receive, if indeed they receive the product, is not what they expected or came too late. This could come for a number of reasons, for example the advertisement not fully describing the item, but is another online corporate criminal act.
Online Escrow Services have been set up to protect consumers of this type of fraud however sometimes these companies could be corrupt and have made a deal with the fraudulent seller. These companies were set up to act as a middleman. They hold payments until the buyer approves the package and receive a percentage of the sale for their efforts (www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/online/auctions.htm).
Other offences consumers can face when shopping online are bid siphoning, shill bidding and bid shielding. These offences are committed at online auctioning and are becoming very common. Bid siphoning refers to convincing consumers to go off the online auctioning website they are on and buy a cheaper similar product on an outside website. These websites often don’t have any insurance or guarantees for the consumer and rip off their customers. Shill bidding is when the people auctioning products put in false bids to drive the price of their product up. Bid shielding is similar to shill bidding, but refers to when frauds put an unreasonably high bid in for a product to put off other buyers and then withdraw this bid (www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/online/auctions.htm).
Feel free to go
See Also:
Dawe, T. (2004) “Fast Brand Building in Slow-Growth Markets�, The Times Newspaper, May 25 2004.
Federal Trade Commission (2004) “Internet Auctions: A Guide for Buyers and Sellers�, retrieved October 20, 2004, from http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/online/auctions.htm
MI5 (2004) “Protecting your information�, retrieved October 22, 2004, from www.mi5.gov.uk/output/Page236.html
Daniel Newton 10:20, 29 Oct 2004 (EST)
