Internet Privacy Essay

Electronic commerce (e-commerce) is a great opportunity for any fledging entrepreneur to expose his goods to buyers all over the world through the internet. Small and medium scale businesses, with the right mixture of products and e-commerce capabilities can thrive in a global market. Geography is now longer a hindrance. One doesn’t even need a great amount of capital outlay to get started. For $ 25 a month, one can get an e-commerce start up kit (â€Å"Exploring E-Commerce†). Every imaginable commodity is now sold on-line. It would be wise for any business minded person to ride the information age. Of course, one area of concern when it comes to electronic transactions is security. There have been many instances where credit card information submitted to certain business related websites were stolen and used for other purposes. Customers would need some measure of guarantee that they are not getting scammed. At the same time, businessmen, especially the newer ones, would like to minimize costs of implementing a highly secure environment. Like everything else, a balance must be reached between security for the customer and cost for the business owner. The advantage of a non-secure e-commerce environment is that the business can start right away, even at the comfort of your own home if you prefer. Starting capital would be affordable since one only needs to register a website name and post the products he is offering. The site functions as a showroom for global customers. The disadvantage is that the number of hits on the site doesn’t necessarily translate to customers. 54% of prospective buyers cancel their transactions because of concerns which include insecurity (â€Å"Exploring E-Commerce†). Another disadvantage is that safe payment options are limited. Because non-secure e-commerce sites are vulnerable to hacker attacks, customers would prefer not to use any kind of electronic payment. This would limit the customer’s options to bank deposits and cash-on-delivery schemes. If credit card payment is offered in an insecure web environment, the risk of theft is increased. Overly secured e-commerce sites provide the customer with a blanket of safety and convenience for both the customer and the site owner. With up to date security measures, the owner opens his business to the more than 1. 2 billion credit card owners, world wide (â€Å"Exploring E-Commerce†). Applying encryption methods such as the widely accepted secure socket layer (SSL) certificates on the business website shields important customer information, like credit card numbers, from hackers and other web predators. One disadvantage of a highly secure e-commerce setup is the cost in putting up the safeguards. Verisign, the company that offers SSL certificates, charges over $1,000 for an extended SSL good for 1 year (â€Å"Verisign†, 2007). Other security costs include purchasing and updating of anti-virus software and firewall infrastructure. A minor inconvenience for the customer would be repeated input of customer information including passwords to help secure a transaction. These are not one time only costs. SSL and anti-virus software need regular updates to adapt to relentless hackers and virus code programmers. Even with all of these, there is still no 100% guarantee that the e-business is safe since security is meant to â€Å"manage not eliminate risks† (Tung, 2007). If the entrepreneur is new to the e-commerce business and confined with a limited budget, it is advisable that he start with registering the website first and live with the payment limitations. If the product is good, and the owner makes up for the limitations with above average service like on time delivery and packaging, then he may gradually add components that would make his e-business more secure. If money is no object to the businessman, then adding market accepted security features will certainly not hurt and will even attract repeat business. References: E-commerce 101. Retrieved December 10, 2007, from Sell it on the web Web site: http://sellitontheweb. com/ezine/webstore101. shtml Exploring E-Commerce. Entrepreneur. com , Retrieved December 10, 2007, from http://www. entrepreneur. com/growyourbusiness/howtoguides/article81238. html Tung, Liam (2007, November 2007). ‘Friendly rootkits’ proposed for safe e-commerce. Retrieved December 10, 2007, from ZDNet. co. uk Web site: http://news. zdnet. co. uk/internet/0,1000000097,39291134,00. htm? r=2 Verisign (2007). Retrieved December 10, 2007, Web site: https://ssl-certificate- center. verisign. com/process/retail/product_selector? uid=f149c3d301a629c3897d6187982dbfe7