Consumers are increasingly going online to browse for, research and buy products, as they prefer the convenience and fast transaction times the channel offers. For merchants, online sales are climbing and customer satisfaction is improving. However, businesses need to look out for instances of fraud, as hackers are targeting internet shoppers to steal their payment information.

Internet Retailer reports that a study from Trustwave revealed that merchants' ecommerce sites made up 45 percent of the systems targeted by cybercriminals in 2012. Of the breaches that occurred, the research revealed that 96 percent went after payment information, such as consumer data gleaned from credit and debit cards. Trustwave also discovered that a significant amount of attacks originated within the United States, coming in at 29 percent. Only Romania had more breaches, with 33.4 percent.

To combat this fraud and protect customers' vital information, businesses can adopt retail software that provides extra levels of security. Dynamic Business writes that having secure payment gateways on sites lets shoppers know their data won't be compromised. In addition, offering companies' contact details gives consumers a way to reach out in case of breaches or instances of fraud, the source notes.

This entry was posted by Retail Pro on Monday, March 4th, 2013 at 11:27 am .