Big brandonline retailersare increasingly
targets for internet attacks, but they lag behind the finance
sector in addressing vulnerabilities, according to Symantec's
latest security threat report.
The financial services sector still bears the brunt of
e-crime, accounting for 72% of all attacks. But the sector that
experienced the greatest increase in the number of attacks was
e-commerce. Attacks in this sector have risen by 15% since
2006.
Guy Bunker, chief scientist at
Symantec, said that hackers targeting e-commerce websites see
them as an easier target for stealing credit card details than
banking websites, where security is getting better.
The rise in e-commerce vulnerabilities is also due to the
increased use of programming languages such as
Ajax by online retailers. This allows them to roll out web
applications faster, but this is often at the expense of
security.
"Unpatched servers remain the main reason why hackers can easily
infiltrate these
e-commerce systems. Retailers running transaction servers over
the internet must have a formal method for patching the software
and applications that run on these machines very fast," said
Bunker.
He said that testing upgrade patches to ensure compatibility can
take time, and some IT departments do not have a formal process for
monitoring when new patches are released or for allocating specific
times to conduct patch updates. This ad hoc approach to testing
patches can increase the time it takes to install and protect
servers.
Sandra Barton-Nicol, head of risk investigations at gambling
site Betfair, said the growing sophistication of threats and the
complexity of infrastructures were posing challenges to security in
e-commerce.
"In the e-commerce sector, the biggest trend is e-commerce
crime. As the internet grows, and people become more conversant
with it, the criminals are becoming more sophisticated," she
said.
Ian Larkin, managing director of consumer banking at
Lloyds TSB, said, "As a bank, we do everything in our power to
keep fraudsters at bay by making sure our online security is second
to none. But our customers also have a part to play in the fight
against online crime."