According to Internet Retailer the security firm Trustwave reports that 9% of the web security cases that they investigated in 2010 involved ecommerce sites. This number is relatively unchanged from the number of ecommerce-related web security cases investigated by the firm in 2009, and highlights the misconception that many shoppers still have in terms of brick and mortar vs. online store safety.
For example, the same study also found that traditional brick and mortar stores set up to accept online payments made up approximately 75% of the web security cases in 2010. While people may think that if they are purchasing a product in person or from a physical store their data is safer, this is not always the case.
There are a few reasons for this. One, says Internet Retailer, is that ecommerce data is often considered to be less valuable to criminals looking to commit payment fraud on a large scale. This is due mainly to the fact that data collected online is often harder to de-encrypt than data from physical stores. Another is that human error during the payment processing phase can often contribute to security breaches at brick-and-mortar stores that do not occur with automated data capture and secure checkout ecommerce platforms.
This is not to say that online merchants should assume that they are invulnerable to fraud. The same study also found that insecure checkouts and lack of security management are some of the biggest contributors to cases of ecommerce web security fraud.
So how secure is your shopping cart? If you have allowed your SSL certificate to expire, or aren’t using a PCI- compliant hosting provider, for example, you are putting your customers and your business at risk. If one of your business goals for the New Year is to increase sales, the first step is to make sure that your online checkout process is as secure as possible. Talk to your hosting company to learn more about your options and visit our site to learn more about our ecommerce hosting solution plans and pricing.