Navigating The Complex Landscape Of Data Privacy And Security Challenges In E- Commerce

Prachi Pathak, LLM, Christ (Deemed to be University), Bangalore

Dr. Shampa I. Dev, Professor, Christ (Christ Deemed to be University), Bangalore

ABSTRACT

The modern world is growing and moving rapidly towards the digital era. With this rapid growth e-commerce (Electronic Commerce) has also revolutionized. E-commerce enables seamless transactions and personalized shopping experiences. People have started to rely on e-commerce for all their day to day shopping. According to a report from the Digital Commerce 360, which was published in the year 2019 declared that global e-commerce has been progressively and gradually growing within the retail sector, which was visible in two of the largest countries i.e. US and China. China has now become one of the number one e-commerce market globally for online sales and purchase.

Every coin has two sides, there are pros and cons with the use of every technology. The e-commerce convenience has also brought concerns related to data privacy and security. It is advantageous in way of feasibility to users, less time consuming, different products can be compared online, cost reduction of products and many more. With all this advantages, data privacy and security is a big concern for every e-commerce user. An order placed online using e-commerce through any particular website or application uses consumers personal information and it collects and stores the data, this includes name, bank details, address, phone number, one time password (OTP) etc. with personal information the browsing history, preferences and behavior patterns is also stored. Here, chance of potential misuse or unauthorized access to the data is present with different types of risk ranging from financial losses to reputational damage. High-profile breaches of data and incidents of identity theft has also been recorded. Threats that affect e- commerce site can even compromise personal data of the users. This can be done accidentally, intentionally or due to any human error. The most usual privacy and security related threats include scams, cyber phishing, malware attack, middle-man-attack, social engineering, bank details or card data theft, website cloning, hacking etc.

This paper emphasis on ethical reflection in data privacy i.e. all e-commerce applications and website should adopt practices that prioritize users consent first, there should be transparency in all the terms and policies for any data usage. More clear and comprehensible privacy policies, informed consent mechanisms to every user and with this there should be an option for users to opt-out of their personal data sharing. This will help to respect every individual’s choice and build more trust. A number of applications and websites are now manufactured in end-to-end encryption mode for data safety and security, it is a process of encoding data so it becomes unreadable to unauthorized users. By adopting this method sensitive information of users will be safeguarded in transmission and storage. There is always a threat of fraud and misuse of personal data while using e-commerce applications and website.

Objective of this research paper is to discuss, how e-commerce handles immense amount of personal data of users which later becomes an easy tool for hackers and criminals, eventually ends in data breaches, phishing, social engineering, malware etc. and measures to safeguard data privacy and security in e-commerce sites by creating more transparent policies for all the users. This paper also focuses on legislatures that are formulated by different countries to deal with data privacy and security in e-commerce to protect the rights of consumers on online platforms.

Keywords: Data Privacy, Security, Ecommerce, Consumer