Knocking off cybercrime in apparel retailing

Since the burst of the dot.com bubble, e-commerce has been increasing exponentially. Small and large companies have got into the business of buying and selling online and reaped the benefits of reaching newer markets by breaking the barriers of time and distance. But digitization and using the latest technology apart from the above-discussed aids, brings along its share of e-risks in the form of cyber-crimes. With millions of users sharing personal and financial information for shopping online day in and day out, e-commerce becomes an online black market for hackers and cyber thefts to thrive in.

Internet and e-commerce have grown to become a part and parcel of every individual's life but sharing private personal or financial information does not provide enough security and safety to consumers. Cybercrime includes many criminal activities like hacking information or accounts, phishing, and denial of service attacks, which is where e-commerce sites lose their money. The global apparel retail chain Target has been a victim of cybercrime when in December of 2013; millions of accounts and personal data of consumers were hacked.

Phishing, where the perpetrator sends fictitious e-mails to individuals with links to fraudulent websites which encourage users to share personal information, is one of the most common cyberspace crimes. Another possible crime prone to e-commerce sites is Netspionage, when a perpetrator hacks into online systems or personal computers in order to acquire personal information, which is later sold to third parties. But the most dangerous to retailers is when online credit card information's are hacked for unauthorized purposes, and fraudulent purchases are made using it. Hence having better security tools and software to keep cybercriminals at a far distance is one thing apparel retailers need to focus on, otherwise bear the consequences, like in the case of Target.

After the breach into customer data, the company has lost a lot of consumers, and in three months of the incident, net earnings fell by 46 percent in comparison to 2013's fourth quarter from US $ 961 million to $ 520 million. Since last year's holiday season, the company is believed to have put personal credentials of more than 40 million users at risk with the breach in customer data.

Financial information like credit and debit card details, names, security codes on cards, expiry dates, along with private details of shoppers in-store like shipping addresses, names, phone numbers, and email addresses were stolen by hackers. There have been cases like these in the past where retail companies have been hit financially with such an invasion, but the scale and magnanimity of Target have forced many other retailers to think and work towards a secure and safe software technology to protect information. Neiman Marcus also had a similar breach in data that hit millions of customers. As a result of which many top retailing apparel brands in the United States of America have joined hands to save themselves from such attacks in the future.

Biggies in US apparel retail like Target, Gap, Walgreens, J C Penny, Nike, American Eagle, Safeway, and many others consolidated to form an alliance called the Retail Cyber Intelligence Sharing Centre (RCISC). The team will exchange real-time threat information with the help of a central intelligence collecting system, which is created with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the companies' investors, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Secret Service. The primary goal of the