Trading on Air

Abstract

At best, it is a guess. Like many other things to do with Cyberspace, the extent to which E-commerce is threatened by fraudulent behaviour is based on assumptions and guesswork. The absence of any firm evidence to support some of the more extreme figures, makes the job of understanding the level of the threat extremely difficult. Despite this, there is a growing volume of evidence to support the view that Internet fraud is on the increase, a fact that the serious under-reporting of the offence, discovered in a recent, authoritative survey of American business, only served to highlight. The survey, by the Computer Security Institute and the FBI, found that, of the companies that responded, 72% had suffered financial loss because of security breaches while only 32% reported the matter. In the UK, the position on fraud was only marginally better with a 1999 Price-WaterhouseCoopers’ survey showing that 59% of companies with an Internet presence had been attacked. The good news is that most fraud is preventable. It does, however, require good management systems, properly followed through with an adequate level of supervision and a healthy dose of common sense — all the attributes that should be present in a successful and thriving business venture.