Ecommerce killed the retail star. Trends show that e-commerce is quickly overtaking traditional shopping models, with 2023 predicted to have 300 million online shoppers in the US alone. This statistic is excellent news for the industry and even better news for cybercriminals. There are types of e-commerce security that will become necessary for any business wishing to engage with clients online.
If you’re a new or developing business in the e-commerce sector, congratulations! Online selling and shopping are seeing perennial growth; one study of overall global market trends predicts that e-commerce will overtake a whopping 22 percent of all global sales by 2023, up from the 12.2 percent it commanded just five years prior in 2018. However, all that progress comes with its risks as well, and security tools in e-commerce will only become more important as the industry grows.
When it comes to any kind of e-business, the lifeblood, the success, or failure rides on data. Big tech has changed the way we use data, and with e-commerce projected to grow, data ethics becomes a serious topic of conversation. In this article, we will be exploring ethical issues in e-commerce and how our organizations can change the way we handle people’s data.
E-commerce is a monolithic industry. According to market research, spending shot up to over $600 billion dollars in 2019, up nearly 15% from the year prior. But along with all that growth, there are also risks. It’s imperative that e-commerce security threats be taken seriously by all companies operating in this sphere. Whether you’re just starting up a new business or you’ve been a player in the e-commerce sector from the very beginning, you need to stay protected.
There’s never been a better time to start or grow an e-commerce business. According to one study of e-commerce trends, an expected 279.5 percent increase in sales worldwide is expected to yield over $4.9 trillion dollars in e-commerce sales in 2021. But alongside that opportunity there exist numerous risks for startups and big companies alike. Threats from complicated hacks to social engineering make the need for security in e-commerce clearer than ever.
According to a RiskBasedSecurity report, 2019 saw approximately 7.9 to 8.5 billion records compromised. To put that in perspective, the world population is currently 7.5 billion. Despite the numerous small breaches throughout 2019, the majority of these records were compromised by a few large breaches and subsequent chain reaction minor breaches.
A little over ten years ago, in 2008, less than half of healthcare organizations used electronic health records (EHRs). Now, thanks to the passage of the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act of 2009 (HITECH), it’s more surprising when an office-based physician does not have EHRs. While the adoption of electronic health records was necessary for American healthcare to keep up with the rest of the world and the rapidly changing technological landscape, it didn’t come without its downsides.
The number of security breaches has been rising steadily since the HITECH Act instituted harsher penalties for noncompliance with EHRs. In 2010, the number of data breaches in the healthcare industry topped that of the last six years combined. Whereas the healthcare industry chalked that up to the rapid adoption of EHRs, it’s clear now that wasn’t the whole story. With the latest data from 2018, we see that the reported incidents have still been increasing.
With the use of electronics and digital technology from smartphones to computers, cloud technology to metadata, the cybersecurity risks have never been higher. To know if your electronic personal health information (e-PHI) is safe and to learn about the top breaches in healthcare security, read on.
The legal marijuana industry is expected to grow exponentially over the next few years. This is spurred not only by the legalization of recreational marijuana in many states in the US as well as in countries like Canada, but also the growing adoption of cannabis as a pharmaceutical product.
According to the State of the Legal Cannabis Markets report from BDS Analytics and Arcview Market Research, legal pot sales will hit $40.6 billion in 2024. This represents a 24.5 percent growth over the period 2018 to 2024.
The burgeoning cannabis retail industry is, therefore, a prime target for cybercriminals who look to steal valuable and sensitive information ranging from credit card information, trade secrets, and personally identifiable information (PII).
Aside from the consumer information they store and manage, online cannabis retailers are being targeted because many of them have yet to incorporate cybersecurity practices. Small to medium-sized online marijuana retailers are also highly vulnerable to cyberattacks because they normally don’t have the resources to hire an IT staff who can implement security measures to mitigate cybersecurity risks.
Cybercrime today represents a threat with a scale and persistence that hasnt been encountered before. Despite the widespread threat of cybercrime, many people and businesses remain ignorant of the true risks they face and what they can do to combat them. Gaining a greater understanding of the types of cyber crimes can help one understand the importance of cyber security for their business.
Last week, the Colorado Department of Transportation was hit with the SamSam ransomware forcing it to shut down 2000 computers across its system. Believed to be a new variant of the previous SamSam ransomware, according to Talos Intelligence at Cisco, this ransomware has been observed across multiple industries including Government, Healthcare and ICS. These attacks do not appear to be highly targeted, and appear to be more opportunistic in nature. As we all know these ransomware can cripple critical systems such as those in the healthcare services impacting patients across the world.