Cybersecurity - Important when buying online

Online buyers have two concerns:

• The security of their personal information and identity.
• Merchant reliability and performance.

Information Security

FTC claims that identity theft is one of the largest and fastest-growing type of fraud in America (about 1 in 30 Americans face it each year).

The Pew Internet Project states that 75% of U.S. Internet users prefer not to provide personal information over the Internet.

A survey by VeriSign shows that 83% of online visitors are concerned about the possibility of their identity being stolen after an online purchase.

Reliability of the merchant

The Internet Crime Complaint Center and the FBI say that nearly 60% of all complaints received are about a merchant's failure to keep appointments.

CyberSource states that 73% of consumers say online shopping is more dangerous than offline shopping.

VeriSign states that 85% of consumers say that being able to trust the (web) site is the most important buying motivator. Only 9% cited price as the most important factor.

Why is customer insecure when purchasing online

A remote purchase often takes place with less information available and a high dependence on the seller. Online merchants must therefore understand that the Internet is an inherently uncertain environment in which to store and that this can impact online customer confidence.

There are more risks and growing negative publications about phishing and fake websites, counterfeit products, credit card and identity theft, large, "trusted" merchants going out of business and poor customer service experience from so-called "legitimate" websites.

With online purchases, the customer wants to have little risk, i.e. more security. The customer accepts less risk with online purchases. After all, they are already dealing with issues such as greater "hassle factor" with returns, less ability to call on seller assistance, not able to "check out" products before purchase.

It is difficult to distinguish good from bad within the 400,000+ e-commerce sites; after all, most look professional and offer returns and warranties.

5.4 PCI Scanning & Compliance

What is PCI?
PCI stands for Payment Card Industry. It is an organization that was founded by the five largest credit card companies (American Express, Discover, JCB, MasterCard and Visa) with the aim of creating a uniform set of security standards for companies when they engage in credit card transactions.

PCI Compliance
When a company passes a PCI Scan and successfully completes an assessment questionnaire, your company's site meets the PCI Standards.

PCI Scanning
PCI Scanning is designed to look for and detect weaknesses in computers, websites, applications and networks. Because these main systems are checked against a database full of known vulnerabilities, our scanner can detect them. They can then provide an advisory report on the security system in question. If you as a company know what your vulnerabilities are you can fix them. Make your website more secure!

If your website visitors feel safe, they are more likely to buy online!