Cyber-Attacks and Cyber Security Threats While Shopping Online

You can now buy a house, a car, or in some cases, even a whole island at the click of a mouse but did you know Cybersecurity issues loom large while making transactions on e-commerce sites? Cyber-attacks have been rampant with the increasing technological advancements and growing affluence of the internet and no one is safe from falling victim to sly cyber-attacks and unfair means.

Is Cyber-Attacks Really A Threat While Shopping Online?

Here are some statistics that might paint a picture-

• Cybersecurity attacks cause 60% of companies to shut down as quickly as in six months or less
• Cyber-attacks targeted small and medium-sized e-commerce websites almost daily in the first 6 months of 2020 alone
• 29% of people visiting e-commerce websites hold some malicious intent of cyber-attacks.
• E-commerce frauds result in losses of around $660,000 hourly on an average
• E-commerce payment transactions attract an average of 25% of data breach attempts

Common Types of Cyber-Security Attacks to Be Aware Of

1. A DDOS invasion

A DDOS or Distributed Denial of Service invasion is when the perpetrator disables or disengages the host server or other network systems by rapidly increasing traffic on that particular server in order to disrupt its effectiveness and steal personal information and sensitive data of both the company and its customers.

2. A Malware or virus intrusion

Sometimes cybercriminals introduce malware or virus in the system of the e-commerce company in order to seize control of the host server and use that leverage over the company’s system to even extort money and other facilitation. This is usually termed as ransomware attacks and is most popular among the contemporary generation of cyber-crime offenders.

3. Phishing

Phishing is one of the most popular types of cyber-crimes that we witness in our society. It is referred to as the act of duplicating a website from its authentic source and using it as a decoy to misdirect the gullible mass into voluntarily giving up sensitive information to the hackers. It is not a difficult task to clone a website and mime its appearance and for the less fortunate unaware netizens, it is an utter nuisance that someone can so easily rob them of their identity, steal financial information, and all kinds of documentation and details of the users for their benefit.

4. Password and details breaches

Hackers usually look for financial details and bank information of the customers while a transaction is taking place. They are reportedly most interested in knowing the customer’s account details, card numbers, contact information, personal details, and all kinds of sensitive information that great can-do harm under the influence of certain holders. They may commit identity theft, credit card fraud, and an array of other crimes both cyber and non-cyber in nature that might be of great significance to the society at large. Thus, the hackers and cyber-criminals try to retrieve such data by misdirecting and manipulating vulnerable users. At writing my paper for me, your details and passwords are always secure while paying online

5. Credit Card fraud

This is more of a byproduct of a cybercrime apart from being a cybercrime in itself. Hackers and other cyber-criminals that extract your personal information through various ways while transacting online on e-commerce websites, abuse user’s personal information like credit card numbers and passwords to commit credit card fraud while imitating someone’s account number card details and passwords to make transactions and withdraw huge sums of money pretending to be someone else without that person’s consent or knowledge.

Thus, we conclude by encapsulating the most common methods of fraud and cyber-attacks that one might vary while making online transactions on e-commerce websites. This will help you to be aware, be informed, and be vigilant.