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Security Threats of E-Commerce

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INTRODUCTION
E- commerce, which is simply the system of transacting business through the use of electronic and digital media as the computer and mobile devices, has become not just a necessary but also an effective means of global economic development. The astronomical growth of interconnectivity through the computer network (I.e., internet) has made e-commerce a veritable tool for quick business relationships to be formed without any form of physical contact. At the click of the mouse, business transactions ranging from banking, shopping and all manner of trading are carried out by millions of internet users on a daily basis.
Due to the impersonal nature of communication over the internet, and obviously, these processes take place in a …show more content…

The goods can be physical goods, such as books, equipments or CDs, or electronic goods, such as electronic documents, images, or music. Similarly, there are “traditional” services, such as hotel or flight booking, as well as electronic services, such as financial market analyses in electronic form.
E- payment systems are not a novel idea. “Electronic money” has been used between banks in the form of funds transfer since 1960. For nearly as long, customers have been able to withdraw money from ATMs (automatic teller machines), and the use of credit cards has also become increasingly common since then.
Credit Cards
Credit cards are currently the most popular payment instrument on the Internet. The first credit cards were introduced decades ago (Diner’s Club in 1949, American Express in 1958). For a long time, credit cards have been produced with magnetic stripes containing unencrypted, read-only information. Today, more and more cards are “smart cards” containing hardware devices (chips) offering encryption and far greater storage capacity. Recently even virtual credit cards (software digital or e-wallets) are gaining progressive patronage.
Typically, the customer gives his credit card information (i.e., issuer, expiry date, number) to the merchant. The merchant asks the acquirer bank for authorization. The acquirer bank sends a message over the interbank network to the issuer bank asking for

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