Surely, fraudsters would target the big guns in the ecommerce industry, right? Their huge customer base is like succulent bait for hungry fraudsters in the prowl. That is safe to assume, however, it is a big misconception.
While the end goal of fraudsters is to get money, they are not targeting big ecommerce stores. They go for the little companies for the main reason that smaller ecommerce sites seem to have overlooked one important component – stringent security measures. The easy access to vital information and the vulnerability of security systems lure these fraudsters to smaller ecommerce stores.
According to a report done by web security firm Trustwave, approximately 90 percent of credit card security compromises in the ecommerce industry come from Level 4 Merchants or ecommerce sites that process less than 1 million total card payment transactions and less than 20,000 ecommerce transactions in a year.
Although no steps in improving a small ecommerce site’s security were presented, the report outlines where and why smaller merchants fail to comply with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard.
The report states that 98 percent fail to maintain their firewalls that are designed to protect sensitive payment information. The security of their card-protection system is not tested on a regular basis. Moreover, 75 percent do not offer any protection on the payment data that is stored on their ecommerce site.
Thus, smaller ecommerce website owners often fall prey to the hands of cyber criminals. Much of their efforts are dedicated to daily business operations. Data security becomes a secondary concern because they think that being a small player, they lack the time and the resources to improve on these. What can ecommerce storeowners take in from all this?
Whether you are a big player or a small one, the same amount of effort, time, and resources must be devoted to payment system security. Your customer is the lifeblood of your online business. A low security measure on your ecommerce website is the biggest deterrent on a customer. In the mind of a consumer, he or she would rather pay extra for an item rather than fall prey to credit card fraud; all because of a discounted item in your ecommerce site.
Your goal is not only to keep your customers happy, but to keep them safe as well.
