Cyber Security Related to Online Shopping - Hampton University
Cyber Security Related to Online Shopping
Kendall Sapp
Computer Science
Hampton University
Jean Muhammad
Department of Computer Science
Hampton University
jeana.muhammad@hamptonu.edu
kendall.sapp2@
Abstract
The purpose of conducting this research is to educate online
shopping customers so they know how to conduct a secure
purchase and navigate shopping websites safely. There are
many people that buy from online websites that either never
receive their product or have their identity stolen because
they did not take proper precautions. With the simple tools
that I hope to touch on during my research paper customers
can be more observant of situations where their personal
information is in jeopardy. The design of the study will be
done in a research format. I will use the articles I found to
research exactly what ways online shopping sites are
vulnerable and how to tell when a website is not legitimate. I
will then send out a survey through social media to get
feedback about what problems online shopping customers
have faced and what questions they have. After completing
my survey, I hope to have a better idea of what the customers
experience is with online shopping and how to better educate
them on the safe practices while using shopping websites. My
research will be centered on the vulnerabilities of online
shopping and how users can navigate these websites in a
secure manner.
I.
Introduction
With technology constantly advancing shopping has become as
easy as a tap on your phone, but what happens when that
shopping site is corrupted? Online shopping is one of the most
popular ways of purchasing everyday items, but the security on
these sites can be poor if not managed properly. Online websites
require that the customer provide their first and last name,
shipping address, billing address, and credit card number. This
information is valuable and can be used against you, especially
by a hacker. Many users have had credit card numbers stolen,
identities stolen, and much more because they were not cautious
when disclosing their information. Ensuring a secure transaction
is the responsibility of the vendor but if the customer has the
knowledge to identify when a website has been corrupted they
are less likely to be hacked. By educating customers on the issues
with online shopping and the possible vulnerabilities I hope to
create a more secure experience for everyone uses these shopping
websites.
II.
Problem Statement
Online shopping has become the most popular way to shop. As
the number of customers making online purchases increases,
hackers are finding more and more ways to steal their personal
and financial information. The purpose of my research was to
find out exactly how much customers knew about the risks of
online shopping and how companies can help educate customers
to create a safer shopping experience for both parties.
III.
Methodology
Research Design
The purpose of this study is to educate customers on how to
safely conduct online shopping. Individuals submit personal
information to online shopping websites daily without thinking
about the repercussions, this research is to help customers
identify the vulnerabilities of online shopping and how to keep
their personal information safe. By the end of the research I hope
to know more about how safe the customer feels about online
shopping and how we can better educate them on how to shop
safely on the internet.
Research Approach
I have conducted research through online resources and surveys. I
have found several articles about the dangers of online shopping
and how to identify when a website has been corrupted. They
also outline the vulnerabilities in online shopping and things
customers should be aware of. I have also sent out a survey
asking customers how safe they feel online shopping and if they
have had their card number or identity stolen in the past.
Sampling Method
The research done will be limited to articles found from the last 5
years so I can present current information. I will also provide
example websites from companies that have been known to be
secure so customers can know what to look for when they are
shopping online. It is important for readers to know exactly what
keys to identify when they are shopping, especially on websites
that aren¡¯t as commonly known.
Data Collection Method
Data will be collected through online surveys that will be sent out
through social media. The survey questions will consist of nine
questions that will ask the customers how comfortable they feel
while online shopping and if they are interested in learning more
about how to navigate online shopping websites safely.
Data Analysis Method
The data analysis of this research will be done in a qualitative
method. Most of the research will be done through analysis of
online articles and website analysis. Quantitative data will be
gather through the online survey. The data will be organized by
age so I will be able to analyze how comfortable each age group
is with online shopping.
Protecting Personal Information while Online Shopping
Online shopping is the most popular way to purchase items from
anywhere, people online shop to do Christmas shopping,
purchase birthday presents, and even buy groceries. Online
shopping has become so popular that they have created a holiday
to celebrate online shopping discounts, Cyber Monday. People
ADMI¡¯19, April 2019, Memphis, Tennessee, USA
have complete embraced the simplicity and convince of online
shopping, but have not yet identified the risk that come along
with it. Online shopping is great for the customer that wants to
avoid long lines and crowded stores but there are also security
risk that go along with the benefits. There are many companies
out there that don¡¯t take their cyber security as serious as they
should and that makes their information and the information of
their customers vulnerable.
Shoppers need to take security measures to ensure we are
shopping from reliable sites and double checking the URL we are
shopping on to ensure they are the correct ones. Many hackers
create URLs that are similar to well-known websites in hope that
users make simple typos that bring them to their malicious site.
An important tip is to check if the website has the correct security
lock indicator, if the website has HTTPS it is more secure than
HTTP. Some hackers will even provide better deals than the
official site so lure customers looking for a better deal.
The same can be said for mobile shopping, it is important to
ensure you are using an official mobile app instead of a thirdparty app to ensure a secure transaction. This way you can be
more confident when entering your personal and credit card
information. Customers are always use strong passwords to make
it more difficult for hackers to penetrate your online shopping
accounts. Experts recommend that your passwords at least
contain one uppercase letter, one lowercase letter, one number,
and one symbol, but many companies don¡¯t require passwords of
that difficulty. Once you have created a password you are
comfortable with ensure it isn¡¯t the same or similar to any other
password you use for other accounts, because then hackers will
only have to hack one account to gain access to all your personal
information. Some shopping sites provide a password rating
generator that rates your password depending on length and
character types. Using passphrases can also help protect your
passwords integrity against hackers. Use unique complex
passwords on all your online shopping accounts and be sure to
change them frequently to keep yourself protected.
Ensuring you are using a secure network while online shopping
can also be help make sure you are sending a secure transaction.
There are hackers out there that set up private networks that are
set up to look like open Wi-Fi networks and they track all the
websites you go to and information you enter. If you were to
make a purchase on one of these malicious networks you could
be exposing your personal information. To ensure you are using a
secure network double check the name of the network to ensure
there aren¡¯t any typos. With many guest WIFI¡¯s a guest policy is
automatically pulled up once you access the network so ensure
that you see one of those policies before browsing around on the
network.
Finally, it is important to think before you click, because of the
importance of your personal information is it essentials that you
do not click on anything that looks suspicious or fishy. Many
hackers create phishing ad and emails that claim that they have
great deals but in actuality are stealing your personal and credit
card information. These ads can pop up anywhere, even social
media, so beware of all ads suggesting good deals. Check with
official sites so you won¡¯t get caught trying to get a deal on a
suspect site.
K. Sapp and J. Muhammad
Online Shopping Security Issues
The internet was created to allow everyone to opportunity to
access the vast amount of information available in the world, but
there are those out there that want to take advantage of this tool.
This also applies to online shopping, although it is a convenient
asset that allows shoppers to avoid the hassles of stores there is a
danger to it unlike traditional shopping. Previously if an
individual wanted to steal of a customer in a store they would
have to physically steal their credit card and hope they didn¡¯t set
of any card fraud alarms. Now, thief¡¯s can steal from customers
in a variety of ways without even know the person. The risk of
hack attacks is very strong in the online hacking world, and
hacker can gain unauthorized access to your computer, phone, or
tablet by taking advantage of unpatched software holes. Some
hacks don¡¯t even require a technical background, individuals can
download hacking tools and malware that can be used to gather
customer¡¯s information. Hacker¡¯s primary goal is to gather as
much information about the customer as possible. While online
shopping, customers enter valuable information like first name,
last name, address, email, phone number, and credit card number,
this is more than enough to steal someone identity. They will use
this information pretending to be that customer and make
purchases using their card. Many thief¡¯s will make as many
purchases as possible in a short amount of time to try and spend
the customer¡¯s money before they have time to realize they have
been robbed. They will then auction off the items they purchased
to profit from the identity theft. By being cautious of what
websites you plan on giving out your personal information you
limit chances you have of being hacked.
The most common type of cyber security threats for online
shopping is phishing scams. As online shopping has increased in
popularity so have the amount of phishing scams. This is because
phishing scams are easy to create and simple to execute. Hackers
don¡¯t require any technical background to create a phishing ad
and simply by using a phishing attack hackers can gather enough
information to conduct credit card and identity fraud. Phishing
emails are a popular version of phishing scams because many
people believe that if they receive a personal email then it should
be safe to click on the emails link. After clicking the link a
variety of things can happen depending on the scam, they could
send malware to infect your computer and copy your important
files on your personal computer, they could have you fill out a
fake shipping order where they collect all your personal and
credit card information. The ways to avoid phishing scams is to
always be on the alert and question everything that is sent to you.
If you receive an email about a great deal question why they
would require your information to receive the offer. Another item
to check for is where emails are coming from, similar to creating
URLs that look like the original website hackers will create
emails that look identical to the official company¡¯s email. By
changing a letter or adding a number they trick customer into
believing they are receiving a great deal from their favorite
clothing website when in fact they are phishing for customer¡¯s
credit card information. Practicing restraint on clicking emails
before checking them could keep your personal information safe
and make it harder for hackers to steal your information.
Cyber Security Related to Online Shopping
Although there are several ways for non-technical hackers to try
and steal customer personal information there are also
complicated attacks that require more knowledge, like
ransomware attacks. This attack gains access to the targets
personal computer and restricts access to certain files or your
entire console. Once hackers have gain control the system they
will contact the computers owner demanding payment before
they give access back to the owner. Once the hacker receives the
money there is no guarantee that access will be given back to the
owner of the computer or that the hacker won¡¯t just use the credit
card information to make other purchases. These ransomware
attacks can come from many different places, pop-up
advertisements, phishing emails, and malicious networks to infect
individual¡¯s systems with malware. Like phishing attacks, these
pop-up advertisements and emails will contain incredible deals
that trick users into clicking the link and infecting their personal
computers with software that could lock the computer screen or
encrypt the user¡¯s files on their hard drive.
Cyber security experts are tasked with helping individuals protect
information they don¡¯t even know is at risk. The reason I selected
this topic for my research is because I realized that the common
online shopper doesn¡¯t know the safe practices that are associated
with making purchases over the internet. The information
customers put on the internet is extremely valuable and if not
protected properly could ruin the person¡¯s credit, debt, and many
other things. As cyber security professional, they are
knowledgeable in this field and can provide guidance to shoppers
that aren¡¯t technically savvy. It is the duty of cyber professionals
to spread their knowledge so that shoppers can be aware of
cyber-attacks and know how to combat them. It is also the
responsibility of the companies to hire cyber security
professionals to ensure their servers that are built for data storage
and transfer are secure and remain protected from hackers. There
is no such thing as a hundred percent secure system but it is the
job of the cyber security professional to identify and secure as
many vulnerabilities are possible. Customers should feel safe
interacting with vendor¡¯s online shopping websites and both
parties should leave the transaction with their system safe and
information secure. Many users don¡¯t have the information
necessary to shop safely to be education users through safety
emails companies are not only protect the customer but the
integrity of the shopping website.
There are several vulnerabilities when online shopping, just being
on the internet in general can be dangerous so by including the
amount of important information you must disclose to complete a
transaction, makes online shopping that more risky
Cyber Security Consumer Safe Practices
Online shopping has become the most popular way to shop,
especially during the holiday season. Many customers want to
avoid all the issues that go along with shopping in stores but
don¡¯t know how to shop safely online. There are several safe
practices consumers can add to their online shopping routine that
can assist them in having a safe and problem free shopping
experience.
Online shopping has become so popular several reasons, one
being the organization of it all. Customers no longer have to save
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their receipts in their glove box, all transactions are recorded
electronically and receipts are emailed to the customer. This way
if something needs to be returned the customer can easily find the
receipt and either return the item to the store or mail the item
back. Many companies are aware of the amount of items being
returned during the holiday season and will provide a free sticker
to have the item shipped back to them.
Another benefit of online shopping is there are various ways to
pay, customers can use credit cards, disposable debit cards,
online payment services (PayPal), gift cards, site credits, and
many others. This convenient for the customer because it allows
them to use different methods of payment, regardless of their
financial status. Online shopping websites also have built-in
online safety tools that alert customers when they are in jeopardy
of being scammed. The website will send out icons and alerts that
help users know a phishing ad or unsecure message is being sent
to them and blocks the advertisement. This helps the customer
and the company remain secure against malicious threats. The
final advantage is the addition of customer reviews to every item
on a company¡¯s website. Customer can now see ratings and
reviews on items they are considering purchasing and can make
an educated decision on whether they want to purchase it or not.
All these factors are what make online shopping so convenient
and easy to access, but there are also risk that go along with it.
At times, online shopping can be too convenient, there are so
many things available online customers can get overwhelmed and
tend to make purchases that are out of their financial capability.
Many companies do online deals during events like Cyber
Monday, but beware of those hidden fees like shipping, handling,
and duty charges. These extra charges raise to price back to its
regular listed price so customers have to ensure that they are
checking the final price before entering their payment
information. There are scam artist everywhere trying to trick
customers into believing they are purchasing an item for a low
price, when in fact they are buying something damaged, stolen,
or nonexistent. Be sure to check the customer reviews and ratings
on auction sites like EBay and Letgo to check if other customers
have had problems with the seller in the past.
Many companies have even added ¡°one click shopping¡± buttons
that save user information in the websites database. These are
considered dangerous because if the company gets hacked your
customer information would get stolen. It is also important to
clear your cache to ensure none of your credit card or store login
information has been stored in your browsers cookies. These
cookies can also be hacked and give hackers personal
information that they can abuse. There are several ways to protect
yourself while shopping online. Credit card companies are
usually very aware of identity theft and will contact the cards
owner if any suspicious purchases have been made. Even getting
a separate credit card specifically for online shopping can be
useful because you can set limitations on what the card can be
spent on. Using disposable cards or gift cards have the same
benefits because they only have a specific amount of funds on
them and can¡¯t be linked to your main bank accounts. If a hacker
was to get ahold of the gift card information they wouldn¡¯t have
any of the customer¡¯s personal or financial information and
would be completely safe during a malicious attack. Ensure that
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you are using an encrypted site by checking the browser lock
icon, this provides conformation that your personal information
will be safe if you decide to make a purchase.
Keeping software up to date can also be helpful because most
updates fix bugs and provide security updates. This software can
keep your computer free of malware and your financial
information from being compromised. Make sure to log out of all
shopping accounts when online shopping on personal computers.
By logging out customers avoid having others make unwanted
purchases on their account because in many cases that money
won¡¯t be returned. If a person were to see your account logged in
with bad intensions they could record personal, banking, and
billing information. Looking closely into the items you are
buying can be extremely helpful when making online purchases.
Do research on what the item is supposed to look like and look
for key words in the description that could make the item seem
fraudulent. Words like ¡°refurbished¡± and ¡°like new¡± usually
means the item is used. Asking the seller questions about the item
can also give away if the item is similar to the one they display in
the photos; the customer should always be questioning the seller
because it is their money on the line. This same rule applies for
dealing with knockoffs. Most items have a standard price that
doesn¡¯t lower too much off the retail price, so if a great bargain is
being sold on the internet more than likely it is a fake. Be aware
of these fake items and research the key things to look for to
determine if the items are real or not.
Finally reporting fraud is the best practice you can do when
shopping online. Being a victim of fraud can be traumatizing and
instead of staying quiet and admitting defeat, report the incident
to the website. Many of the major vendors have policy for
fraudulent items, purchases, and identity theft and have
procedures put in place to deal with these incidents. By reporting
fraud customers can help those like them from suffering the same
fate and can identify vulnerabilities in the shopping websites
system. The action of reporting fraud is what keeps our online
shopping web space secure and allows companies to learn from
their mistakes.
IV.
Results
K. Sapp and J. Muhammad
my survey results came from people from ages 18-24.
When I asked how safe these shoppers felt while online shopping
the 43% of the responders said they felt moderately safe.
This proves that the average shopper realizes the threat that goes
along with online shopping but does not know the proper
practices to avoid these threats. Surprisingly 66% of the surveyed
shoppers knew the check their shopping websites URL prior to
inputting personal and credit card information. This is good
because it tells us that people are aware that there are scammers
out there that create fake websites and that they should always be
aware of what website they are shopping on.
To get a sense of how the average shopper felt about online
shopping I conducted a survey and sent it out through social
media. The survey contained 9 questions asking customers about
how comfortable shoppers felt while online shopping and if they
know any of the general safe practices while shopping online.
Each question had a purpose to investigate how comfortable the
average shopper is, if they have every had their information
compromised before, whether they know the safe practices
related with online shopping, if they have ever hacked an online
shopping website before, and if they are interested in learning
more about how to shop safely on the web. To get the required
100 responses I sent my survey through three social media
outlets, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, because of the 90% of
When asked if users felt their information had ever
been compromised while online shopping 51 percent of people
said no. This was also surprising after analyzing the other
questions I asked. 84% of responders claimed that they had never
Cyber Security Related to Online Shopping
had their identity or credit card number stolen when online
shopping but if 49% felt like they had their information
compromised before why did they feel it was not their personal
or credit card information. These results give me the impression
that although customers feel their information has been stolen
before they can¡¯t relate it to identity fraud or maybe don¡¯t
understand what hackers are doing with their information. Below
is a graph that displays how many people believed that their
credit card or identity had been stolen while online shopping.
ADMI¡¯19, April 2019, Memphis, Tennessee, USA
supply runs out they inform the other customers they have run
out. These bots guarantee the user that they will receive an item
before the websites completely sells their stock.
Code writers that create these bots are able to make a profit off
these bots because of the limited supply of these designer shoes.
Some shoe bots run through proxies and can access the website
from multiple IP addresses to give the customer a better chance
of getting the shoes. Customers that secure these rare shoes are
able to resale the items for almost double of the retail price
depending on the popularity of the shoe. Many see the purchasing
of a shoe bot as an investment because by getting a better chance
of purchasing the shoe, some shoe bots guarantee the customer
will get the item and will refund the customers money if they
aren¡¯t able to get the item. The popularity of these shoe bots is
enormous in today¡¯s shoe market is it was a surprise to me that
many of my responders hadn¡¯t used the hacking technology in the
past. Below is the graph of the survey question ¡°Have you ever
used a ¡°Shoe Bot¡± or any other hacking tool used for online
shopping.
When I asked users about how securely customers are making
their passwords 42.42% said that their passwords were
moderately secure. That tells me that these customers are using
passwords they are comfortable with versus using passwords
strength that the company websites recommend. Below is a graph
depicting how secure responders felt their passwords are.
What was really surprising about this survey question was that
only 2% of the responders said that their passwords were not
secure. So, customers understand that their passwords cannot be
simple because that makes it easier for hackers to crack, but they
aren¡¯t taking as many precautions as they should. Many websites
provide a password rating system so if customers were more
aware of the importance of a secure password they would be
more likely to create stronger passwords.
Another interesting statistic I discovered during my
survey was that 94% of responders to my survey had never used a
¡°Shoe Bot¡± or any other hacking tool on an online shopping
website. A shoe bot is a popular hacking tool used to automate
the online checkout process on popular online shopping websites
like Nike or Adidas. These websites place customers in a queue
depending on when the log in to purchase the shoe. Then they
allow customers to begin purchasing the shoes and once the
One of the most important actions a customer can do is report
when they feel their information has been stolen to the online
shopping site. Vulnerabilities can¡¯t be patched if customers don¡¯t
report when their personal and financial data has been
compromised.
What I found from my responses was that
88% of people that completed my survey had never reported that
their information had been stolen. This is important because
without feedback other customer¡¯s information can be hacked
and a solution can never be found. Once the incident is reported
the company can begin investigating the incident and help to
assist the customer and make sure they fix the problem so that
something like that never happens again. The results of my
survey give me the impression that customers are scared that
reporting hacking incidents won¡¯t help them get their item or
money back, when in fact the company can either reimburse the
customer or contact their bank and file a credit card fraud. Either
way reporting the incident helps the customer and shopping
website remain more secure and create a smoother transaction for
others. Below are the survey results for the question ¡°Have you
ever reported that your information was stolen to a shopping
website?¡±
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