Impact of Identity Theft in E-Commerce

pertain of indistinguish capability Theft in E- physicianABSTRACTIn the world of today, where conviction is m wholenessy and in impressation is a merged asset, aegis of selective in levelation confidentiality and rectitude has become critical. Today, companies atomic number 18 focusing much more on how to reli equal their ances purifyes from individualism spoof, which has break by means ofd as the modern day menace. As I shew realisek on individualism thieving is rather limited. This question ordain provide more knowledge of the subject.The grow of this research on that capitulumfore was to keep and assess the imp turn protrude and the level of individuation element element thievery in e- vocation. This was concordd by using analytic induction from the existent research writings and summary of feed congest from the various fear executives, industry specialists and comp whatever clients by a questionnaire.After introducing identity stealing an d its intrusion on the corporate sector in particular proposition, in the first dickens chapters with the data nurseion laws it discusses their merits, demerits, controls and loopholes, the third chapter of this think altogether over delves into the methods and techniques drilld to prevent identity stealing, it discusses in detail their efficacy, efficiency, implications and limitations objet dart the last chapter is a case chew over of an organization where , vivacious data has been collected from various sources and has been critically analyzed and reviewed.A numeric method come along has been employed in carrying come out of the closet this research, besides carrying out a case lead of an organizationMore everyplace, aim to decrease the lay on the line and notions of identity stealth in e-commerce possible scoop up pull techniques were identified through this research which was achieved through a study of existing literature which results the corpseation of a policy document. This policy document was overly evaluated by industry experts.INTRODUCTIONLike Mcleod and Scheel (2001) guesss, e-business creates higher(prenominal) customer satisf consummation, by providing quicker service, less effort to procure a product or service, and less business cost comp bed to a business run without the exercise of information technology (IT). lucre is excessively called worldwide network of ready reck angiotensin-converting enzymers. It provides polished opportunities for an organization to do their business online. To get more customers and to increase the publics sensation of the business, it is very important to represent themselves on the Internet and their products, resulting in increase sales volume and higher profits. Security implications hold back the business. Nowadays, confidence observance companies, edges and softw be companies work together to produce a full(a) standard to do safe online business. Whereas on the spic-an d-span-sprung(prenominal)(prenominal) hand strategy Hackers ar trying to get as much information as possible, which they fuel easily sell in the black market. some(prenominal) of the round in companies in like manner busy in selling their customers exposit in the same black market. Specific guidelines should be followed by companies to develop a safe and successful appearance in the online business.Some critics like professor Richard Walton CB, (2005) however quarrel, The rise of the Internet and different modern technologies has brought slightly a fundamental change in commercialised life. He further says that thieves attain been stealing wallets and attri thoe cards for a long time, besides the harvest of online buying and on-line banking has made Identify Theft the prof commitest suppuration white-collar crime in the U.K. and America, Its a big problem, and it ass authorise to every(prenominal)one.On the other hand, several(prenominal) people are disagreed th at the major evidence of personal identity stealing is internet. As per Thomas C. Greene (2005) he said, that The vast wakeless age of incidents hatful be traced to (what he calls) skimming, or dumpster diving, he goes further to say that plain stupidity among those who realize got our mortalal data are in like manner contributive. Only a small fraction of much(prenominal)(prenominal)(prenominal) incidences result from on line transactions. I found majority of research is on the affair of identity stealing, which usually consists of some variations in the phrase identity stealing is the fastest exploitation crime in the United kingdom or it begins with a quaint anecdote well-nigh the tens of thousands of identity stealth victims that emerge each year.According to a report published in the Ameri bunghole angle, Anne P.Minz (2002) which says that the consumer sentinel network of agencies gathering data on e-commerce fraud, reports that in 2001 alone, there were 204,00 0 complaints, compared to 138,900 reported in 2000. It is noniceable that 47% increase demonstrates the ontogeny disposition of the problem. Figures such as the ones noted to a higher place are apparently disconcerting, in other to glean possible remedies which in turn demands for tag onitional research on this issue.There are so many occasioning of identity theft and variant ways this may be consummate. The overheads and wounded are extensive to fiscal institutions as fountainhead as several(prenominal)s, but the overheads are a owing(p) deal difficult to reveal or enumerate, principally for individual punter sufferers. If an individual is auspicious enough to avoid financial responsibility for the theft, in so many ways they still resture acquittancees in different ways, which may not be substantial most of the time the affect damage is very heavy that some sufferers commend suicide while so many others hunt for therapeutic or psychiatric assistance. In an attempt to re intersect from the theft or loss, sufferer may end up costs more money and time.These two must not be perplexed as theft resembles fraud in that and both(prenominal) engagedin some form of unlawful takings, but fraud requires an extra helping of ill-advised pretenses formed to persuade a sufferer to turn over wealth, property or other services. Theft, by difference, needs only the vile captivating of some others possessions withthe aim to enduringly divest the other of the possessions. Harsh penalisation is for fraud because of more planning is involved in that than does the theft.However, for the use of this study we are going to focus on identity theft in e-commerce in approach pathing the effect on online business in UK.Definition of IdentityDefinition of TheftTheft toilette be defined as per English Law act 1968 section (1). Subsection (1), that a person is guilty of theft if he is deceitfully appropriates property belongs to another with the pop the question of enduringly miserly the additional of it and that steal and theft shall be construed consequently. It is digressive whether the appropriation is made with a view to expand, or is made for the thiefs own benefit.As per encyclopedia dictionary 2007, Sometimes theft is used synonymously with larceny as a term however, we can say that, it is in truth a broader term, encircling many forms of dishonestly taking of property, including cheating, double-crossing and false pretenses. Some states categorize all these offenses under a single statutory crime of theft. Property belonging to another is interpreted without that persons consent pull up stakes be assumed as theft, where Theft could be regarded as outlaw act.Sense of Identity TheftIn the Identity theft and guess prevention Act of 1998 the term identity theft was first codified, where the act take a craps it as a federal crime when psyche deliberately uses or transfers, without legal permission, a means of identification of anothe r person with the aim to commit, or to aid or support, any unlawful activity that constitutes a breach of federal law, or that constitutes a offense under any applicable state or local law. In addition, the act defines it as a means of identification as any name or number that may be used, alone, or in combination with any other information, to identify a specific person. Identifying information is noted to be, contact by other things, passport number, a name, date of birth, drivers license or national indemnification number (NI), access device or telecommunication identifying information.Identity theft may be broadly defined as the unlawful skill or the use of any aspect of an individuals personalized information for committing some form of criminal activity (Hoar, 2001 LoPucki, 201 Slosarik 2002). This definition is proposed to cover any part of crime that falsely uses a victims name, home address, bank account, trust / account card number, national insurance number, date o f birth, etc. (Federal trade commission, 2004)Formal Definition of Identity TheftAlthough the act of scarce embezzlement ones private information is an offense, the key factor to be renowned here is that this information is then used to declare to be someone else. In other words we can say when someone else uses your identity as his own with the ultimate ambition for fiscal, material, and monetary gain.The Internet, the developing of e-commerce, online shopping, and radio capability, the explanation of identity theft can be further all-embracing to comprise such things as the hacking into the customer databases of large organizations stealing of usernames and passwords the theft and hacking of network login sessions and onwards.The development of e-commerce and particularly Wireless has compounded the problem of identity theft. Basically, it can happen worst yet to anyone, anywhere and at anytime, at variable edges in the way that information can easily be stolen. For example, Identity theft can occur by an individual but rummaging through the trash cans at the local dumpster (the technically it is well(p)-known as Dumpster Diving, and leave behind be discussed later).Identity theft can also happen at your workplace, particularly if you do most of your work through telecommuting over a wireless unite. Suppose yourself sitting in a caf at the train station, and while you are waiting for your train. Your laptop computer is connected to the Hot Spot or wireless link at the caf, and you access your confidential customer data as well as an important work e-mail, but how do you know if the wireless link is for authentic? For example, there could be someone sitting future(a) to you, and this person could have set up a fake wireless access point, and you unintentionally logged into that, thinking that you have really conjugated to a legitimate, safe and encrypted wireless link. Now, you can see that, this person has all the redress to use your customer information, usernames and passwords as a result of that fake link, or rogue Wireless access link, And then you are completely unconscious to all of this (this situation is well-known as The Evil Twins).Nowadays, you can see every where there is of all time a case of theft of identity going on almost every day. First, it was simply stealing a Bank Account Number or 16 digits credence card numbers, but now this crime is going on a large scale, where it affects millions of people all at once. Some peoples working in companies where they are steeling and selling customers full details under the table. As harmonize to the BBC world report (March-2008) on local TV news, that HSBC Bank lost(p) one data disk (compact disk) of their customer details.As we move more towards a wireless and mobile world, people who launch identity theft attacks are becoming much more stylish in the bearing in which these attacks are launched. We are also seeing a campaign today where large corporations a re becoming very complacent in protecting their customer databases from these attacks. There are also trends going on where small, Wireless devices with huge capacity are being used in identity theft crime, and private information is even sold during auctioning processes over the internet.Definition of the term Electronic CommerceElectronic Commerce refers for the most part to all forms of commercial transactions involving both organizations and individuals, that are found upon the electronic processing and transmittal of data, including text, healthful and visual images (OECD, 1997),Electronic commerce is about doing business electronically. It is based on the electronic processing and transmission of data, including text, sound and video. It encompasses many diverse activities including electronic handicraft of goods and services, online lecture of digital content, electronic fund transfers, electronic share trading, electronic bills of lading, commercial auctions, collabora tive formula and engineering, online products (e.g. consumer goods, specialized medical equipment) and services (e.g. information services, financial and legal services) handed-down activities (e.g. healthcare, education) and new activities (e.g. virtual malls). (EC document, 1997)Electronic commerce is the carrying out of business activities that claim to an flip-flop of value across telecommunication networks (EITO, 1997)E-commerce involves business transactions conducted through computer networks. The e-business literature deals with the technical facilities needed to run a business smoothly.(Laudon and Laudon, 2000) E-business creates higher customer satisfaction, by providing quicker service, less effort to buy a product or service, and less business cost compared to a business run without the use of information technology (IT) (McLeod and Schell, 2001). Both of these approaches to e-business point to changes in the entire vision of a classical understanding of business. go industrys challengesCompanies are using electronic finances transfer (EFT) for their customers as the fast and steady-going way of transactions, at present there are two most excellent ways to handle money online personal checks and credit cards, there are other fast and secure methods to exchange funds online. Electronic funds transfer (EFT) is another name for online money exchange. Here, the exchange of digital money is involved between buyers and sellers. In the front customer authorization is made over the Internet where Banks handles the transactions behind. To promise higher level of warranter specialized authentication systems should be adopted. IDs and passwords are one of the most fashionable methods of data certificate department are in use to access a server or Internet site, but these are often poor. To address this problem, Axent Technologies has developed hardware and software solution called withstander that creates unique, one-time passwords that cannot be gue ssed, shared, or cracked (Venetis, 1999).The system incorporates software on the users computer that communicates with the Defender Security Server on the other end. When the user connects with the server, a software token is activated that automatically establishes a dialogue with the server. A new password is generated during each session, removing any possibility that the user allow forget to change his/her password on a regular ground (Venetis, 1999).This study aims not only to evaluate benefits of adopting secure solution to identity-theft, but also to see that what best practices should be adopted by the Companies, which add value to their online business. Through in-depth research, I will be able to realize wherefore customers switch to new online companies for their shopping. I will see techniques other callers uses to give confidence to their customers to retain them. Although there is a very limited research available on prevention of identity theft in e-business, but my aim is to study how I can contribute from the experiences of other companys perspective. By using quantitative method approach, I will try to test the current literature available on the subject matter.The study is based upon research conducted throughout the report from a variety of sources. The domain of the study is the assessment of tools, technologies and architectures that may involve in identify theft in e-commerce. As the scope of Identity theft in e-commerce is a diversified, so I have limited my research to online fraud detection and prevention methods.Why this research?The Literature provides insights into factors underlying the adverts of identity theft on e-business and failure results customers lack of confidence, inappropriate variety of technologies structures, lack of ability to control and secure online businesses, lack of adoptable techniques and processes, but lack of study on how to secure online business.Research QuestionsTo concentrate the research prim ary and vicarious questions have been devised to establish a central path to guide the research.PRQWhat technologies are currently in place to combat fraud and how do they work?SRQLooking at previous fraud prevention techniques, have new technologies actually prevented and deterred fraud from the mainstream areas?The past study on identity theft in e-commerce was not enough to solve the problems. As the cyber crime growing rapidly, it is very difficult to secure online business. The purpose of this dissertation was to investigate why the organization like XYZ UK Limited not able to continue their online businesses and what new techniques and best practices are in use by others to run their online businesses. What are the techniques that were appropriate for identity direction and how well the organization (XYZ UK limited) complies with thesetechniques? The quantitative data was collected through an online questionnaire addressed to approximately 50 business executives, partners, e xperts and consumers.AIMS AND OBJECTIVESThis research emphasizes the issues in private company (XYZ-UK Limited) regarding the risk and impact of identity theft that company had sloped while doing online business and also the problems they had been through in transactions, made on the Internet.I will also put forth what new techniques should be adopted to increase more business and customers satisfaction. To see companies involved in e-business and how to overcome their problems. Adopt new techniques and ideas to have secure online business.Following are research objectivesTo analyze, the affect of cyber crime on businesses and with its consequences on customer alliance.Determine the protection level that the company has provided through its securityPolicy to maintain the privacy of their customers mass medium information and determine its accord with industry best practices.To identify the reasons that results for the company in suffering loses and losing business opportunities and determining their plan to overcome those constraints.Analyzing new strategies acquired by the company to achieve the level of protection and review their effectiveness in accordance with existing practices.To provide opinion whether new methods for safe on-line business ensure customers satisfaction or need of improvement.Organization of ResearchThis research is form as follows. The first chapter, as noted, introduces the research and objectives. The second chapter provides the brief overview of literature on identity theft in e-commerce and describes the critical background identity theft associated with e-commerce., and third Chapter consists of Methodology. Chapter 4 depth psychology of the limitings of Survey as well as content analysis to assess the scale of the effect of these factors on e-commerce success as supposed. Chapter 5 is a policy document can be used as best practices.CHAPTER2Literature ReviewWhats my ROI on e-commerce? Are you crazy? This is Columbus in the new world. What was his ROI? (Andy Grove, chairman of Intel)CHAPTER bothLiterature ReviewDEFINITION OF E-COMMERCEVarious definitions of e-commerce are there the one given at this point is an attempt to relate to this research.Electronic commerce is about doing business electronically. It is based on the electronic processing and transmission of data, including text, sound and video. It encompasses many diverse activities including electronic trading of goods and services, online delivery of digital content, electronic fund transfers, electronic share trading, electronic bills of lading, commercial auctions, collaborative design and engineering, online products (e.g. consumer goods, specialized medical equipment) and services (e.g. information services, financial and legal services) traditional activities (e.g. healthcare, education) and new activities (e.g. virtual malls). (EC document, 1997)While, defining the term Electronic Commerce ranges from broad (EITO) to the very narrow (O ECD), basically they are equivalent. A letters patent description of transactions rather than the scope of activities are there. A bank vault in drafting a precise definition of e-commerce is the continuing evolution of science and technology and its impact on ever-changing environment. (Civil Jurisdiction, 2002)Identity theft may be broadly defined as the unlawful acquirement or the use of any aspect of an individuals personal information for committing some form of criminal activity (Hoar, 2001 LoPucki, 201 Slosarik 2002). This definition is proposed to cover any type of crime that falsely uses a victims name, home address, bank account, credit / debit card number, national insurance number, date of birth, etc. (Federal trade commission, 2004)Some authors and authorities have obviously been some hard work on the result of identity theft to those whom their identity had been stolen they were trying to see how identity theft can be avoided and possible ways to avoid ones identity b eing stolen by the criminal specially in online business and to find what identity theft in e-commerce is about.For instance, Mehdi Khosrowpour (2002) defines identity theft is a form of hacking which results in possession of personal data and information by the hackers to masquerade costume as the true identity owners for future use.IMPACT OF CYBER CRIMES ON BUSINESSE-commerce oriented clientelees are often having a fear that exposing security weakness gives the opportunity to hackers to penetrate into business sensitive information and do the damage. These concerns have shown to have negative impact on consumer attitudes toward using the Internet to make purchases. (Koufaris, 2002) The outcome is failure in doing business online. The losses can be divided into direct and indirect losses. The complete impact of identity theft is not completely understood so far, but latest researches importance the fast development and major costs linked with the offense have discussed and lookin g to solve it. Near the beginning indicate around identity theft relied on subjective proof which is mainly reported by the popular press Identity theft is in many ways a more harmful act that can have continuous effects on major financial effect on merchants as well as on customers.Recent studies have found that identity theft victims often suffer the same aroused consequences as victims of other crimes. The crime of identity theft can be difficult to track because it takes many forms and is used to facilitate other crimes, such as credit card fraud, immigration fraud, Internet scams, and terrorism.Identity fraud arises when someone takes over fictitious name or adopts the name of another person with or without their consent Rt Hon David Blunkett MP (2002)DIRECT LOSSES estimate losses can be defined as losses in terms of monetary value. Reflection of such costs can be seen as incorporated costs of the market incentives faced by such parties addressing the issue. Surveys conducted by experts show the range of financial losses that the businesses have suffered. Identity theft losses to companies are over two times great whereas to consumers three times that are linked with conventional payment deception. Analysis of recent consumer surveys has suggested that while users may view the internet as a marketing channel valued for its convenience and ease of use for shopping, security and privacy issues are very influential on decisions to buy online. (Smith and Rupp, 2002a, b)In e-businesses associated fraud losses are also normally charged back to merchants. From the perspective of the credit card issuer, the cost of identity theft for illegitimately purchased products is most likely to be claimed against the applicable retailers by the credit card issuer. Internet merchants fraud-related costs are high, and when those costs are combined with growing consumer fears of identity theft it results in significant damage to the business. For consumers, the main impac t of identity theft is the unauthorized use of their credit card accounts that could make them suffer financial losses. Corporate identity theft provides perpetrators to conduct industrial sabotage resulting in possible fines to businesses for breach of regulatory rules.Another form of direct losses is the loss of data, according to studies data breaches cost companies losses in terms of administrative performance, management defections and loss of critical and sensitive business data as well as customer data. It will also allow consumers to sue if their personal information is improperly taken from online transactions (Tillman, 2002). It also results in cost overheads for companies to implement preventive measures and techniques. additionally there will be costs for the recovery of loss-data. It also impacts the company to continue its business processes, above all companies may go out of business because of major data-loss.One more category of direct loss is the loss of equipment s and products, since it is very easy for id theft criminal to divert the delivery or shipment of goods by having unauthorized access to the place where it is satisfactory to pick it up.INDIRECT LOSSESThere could be many indirect losses because of identity theft. For example, the time and resources spent on corrective action after the identities and personal information have compromised. However, the ultimate indirect loss, in this regard is, the loss of goodwill, company reputation, customer confidence and relationship with trading partners. Reputation is one of trustworthy behaviour and plays an important part in determining the willingness of others to enter into an exchange with a given actor (Grabner-Kraeuter, 2002, p. 48).It has also estimated that businesses fear to accept large number of orders because of their susceptibility, especially they turn forth overseas transactions and hence get to lose business. The combination of financial losses coupled with reputation and cus tomer trust provide great level of damage to the e-businesses. In terms of reputation, it can said that any e-commerce scandal will become headline of news immediately and the media is always curious about such scandals, thus the publicity of any such incident ruins the company reputation largely.Consumers always worry about their privacy. galore(postnominal) researchers have found that, a majority of internet users worry about spreading of personal data, because the person stealing someones data can use it to misuse the bank accounts, conduct a crime using the details of somebody else, can easily get away from worst situations or can even cross countries borders using fake identities, all of the above can create problem for the person whose identity has been used for all such crimes.Liability issues are always in concern when companies are dealing with trading partners or doing the business within a plain having strict laws for companies to be found liable if they do not protect their own and critical information of others. Theft of corporate identities may adversely affect morale of third party employees as well as the competitive advantages that a company may have with its trading partners. victimization a network perspective, concerning interrelationships between people and organizations, economic relationships between organizations embed in networks of social relationships (Galaskiewicz, 1985 Granovetter, 1985 Uzzi, 1997).Improper handling of information can also take companies to court where they can held accountable for negligence and can face severe fines including imprisonments. Another aspect of indirect loss is the damage to the credit history of both customers and businesses. Businesses will no longer be able to obtain business loans to boost their business and also cannot obtain insurance benefits from insurance companies. Similar things happens to customers, once their history has been marked susceptible they cannot obtain bank loans, credit c ards, health claims and even a better carrier.In summary, the above psychoanalysis shows a picture what an individual or a business might suffer from if cyber criminals steal their identities.E-commerce and Main CategoriesNowadays businesses are using heterogeneous computer environments to integrate their proprietary systems with the external world. Database servers and cover servers supported with middleware to interface with online connections these include HR management, supply chain management and customer relationship management.Through electronic networks where the purpose is to achieve businesses, E-Commerce can be separated into major categoriesBusiness-to-Business (B-TO-B) relationshipBusiness-to-Customer (B-TO-C) relationshipBusiness-to-Government (B-TO-G) relationshipConsumer-to-Consumer (C-TO-C) relationshipMobile Commerce (m-commerce) relationshipThe two core categories are Business to Business and Business to Customer.Business to Customer (B-TO-C)B-TO-C e-commerce is a part of the business, which deals with commercial activities between companies and customers. Companies can easily make their strategies according to the needs and requirements of customers, based on analysis of customers statistics in this model, these statistics can be based on marketing, sales and customer service components (e.g. ordering, online assisting, delivering and customers interaction etc.).E-tailingThe most common form of business-to-consumer (B2C) transaction is E-tailing. (Electronic retailing) It is the selling of sellable merchandise over the Internet.E-Tailing Revolutionary Trends in E-BusinessRecent studies have found that 1997 was the first big year for e-tailing. dingle Computers claimed as they processed a multimillion dollar orders taken through their mesh site. In 1996, was the success for Amazon.com welcomed Noble Barnes to launch itsE-business site whereas, Commerce internet/Nielsen Media disclosed that 10 million customers had completed purchases on -line.A systematic approach in this regard, needs a good combination of business strategies and high-octane networks. The total of these structures is called a dynamic strategic network (Dyke, 1998). One of the best examples of B-to-C e-commerce is Amazon.com, an online bookstore that launched its site in 1995. The benefits of B-TO-C e-commerce includes that it provides instantaneous communication between consumer and principal as well as products and services can be access globally and transactions happens in real time, whereas the risk includes, the confidentiality and privacy of customers information.Business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-customer (B2C) transactions are used in e-commerce and is a type of online shopping.Advantages of B2C e-commerceThe subsequent advantages areShopping can be quicker and expedient.Prices and Offers can alter immediately.The website can be incorporated with Call centers directly.The buying experience will be improved by Broadband communicati ons.Background of E-ShoppingE-Shopping was in