As eCommerce Accelerates, So Too Does the Risk of Cyber Crime

A new survey released by Centre for International Governance Innovation, in collaboration with the UN, reports that consumers around the world are becoming more cautious of online transactions due to the rise in cybercrime and privacy breaches.

Despite this, and concerns about growing internet fraud, there is no sign that eCommerce is slowing down. This has led to a technology competition to combat cybercrime as both consumers and retailers face risks that no one has ever experienced.

Online sales in the U.S., growing by more than 9 percent annually, are slated to reach $523 billion by 2020, a five-year growth spurt of 56 percent with no sign of abating as mobile transactions increase. In the U.S. alone, 90 percent of all internet users make at least one online purchase every month.

In the meantime, eCommerce has made extreme leaps, and so has the scale and sophistication of internet fraud and cybercrime. With one of the world’s highest rates of adapted technology and internet usage, it’s really no surprise that the U.S. leaders the pack for both internet security breaches and identity theft worldwide.

Within the past eight years, over 7.1 billion identities have been very abruptly exposed in data breaches, and hundreds of millions of variants of malware and bots have been unleashed.

“The internet can be a battlefield, and anyone doing business online needs the best possible weapons in the form of technology and innovation,” said Monica Eaton-Cardone, founder, owner and COO of Chargebacks911. “Online retailers need to invest in the right technology to defend themselves if they expect to survive in a marketplace where the threats are invisible.”

“With ransomware and external hacking, at least you’re not in danger of confusing a customer with a criminal,” said Eaton-Cardone. “You might not unmask the hacker, but you can still continue selling to your customers. Chargeback fraud is different, because it blurs the lines between criminals and customers. Without a hi-tech chargeback defense, your e-store can be gouged repeatedly by cyber-shoplifters posing as honest customers, and they’ll eventually bleed you dry.”

“What we are seeing is that as technology evolves, so have the tactics of cyber criminals,” said Eaton-Cardone, “What used to be known as ‘friendly fraud’ has morphed in an organized, systematic criminal scheme that leverages technology to target larger and larger purchases, and in greater frequency, often with stolen credit card information. Without the tech to identify the markers of these attacks and quickly respond against fraudulent chargebacks, merchants can be exposed to catastrophic losses.”