Instructions: Search, review, and compile 10-15 references to be used for your Project Paper. APA-format these references, put them on a Word document along with a short abstract or review of each o

Introduction

E-business refers to a model of doing business or a segment of a larger model that allows commercial transactions to be undertaken throughout an electronic network such as the Internet. E-commerce on the other hand may be used to refer to buying and selling of goods and services via an electronic network. While the terms are commonly used interchangeably, e-commerce assumes the subset of e-business. Whereby, e-commerce can be categorized as an e-business, however, e-business must not in entirely involve e-commerce, (Beynon-Davies, 2004).

E-business and e-commerce generally transcends the four major market segments of business to consumers, business-to-business, consumer to business as well as consumer-to-consumer. This model of business can be used to transact almost any kind of operation including and not limited to conversational commerce, ticketing, document automation, enterprise resource management, messaging, online banking, online shopping, virtual assistance, payment systems as well as social networking.

The American Telco giant IBM first popularized e-business and e-commerce in the mid to late 1990s. During the early stages of the inception of the Internet, the company set out to position her as a leader in conducting business over the Internet. Today, e-business has grown to the point of being a global phenomenon. Today with over 700 million Internet users, China alone commands online sales of over $300 billion quarterly. This trend of rapid and exponential growth is not only experienced in the emerging markets of China and Asia but also in developed economies such as the USA and the U.K but also to the remote and underdeveloped regions of the sub-Saharan Africa, (Gerstner, 2002).

Studies indicate that e-business is fundamentally shaping the manner in which people buy and sell products. With rapidly growing markets seasoned by wealthier population the future seems to be largely set for even more growth. By 2020 online sales are projected to be growing at double digits. Even for traditional business, information technology and international e-business provides a great opportunity for growth and expansions. Business is therefore bound to continue investing in e-business and e-commerce in to the future, (Paul Timers, 2000).

Problem Statement

While e-business possess numerous opportunities for growth and development, convenience and simplicity, there increasing security concerns and risks involved. With the increased pool of users and interested parties the need for information protection is even more amplified. Cybercriminals pose immeasurable threat to online business space. Threats to e-business are largely multi-faceted and are largely manifested as privacy and confidentiality, integrity and non-repudiation, authenticity, access control, cost and availability.

E-businesses are faced with the complex challenge of protecting details of their customers from unauthorized access as well as security in transmission and storage. Cybercriminals are continuously exploring means and ways of executing credit card theft and information mining. It is therefore imperative that personal and confidential information from customers remain secured and accessible to only authorized personnel. Another major security concern for e-business platforms is authenticity. With millions of Internet users worldwide e-business risk identity theft and malicious presence with an aim of gaining financial advantage or causing havoc. E-commerce participants are therefore needed to establish that a person is who the really claim to be, (Lowry et.al, 2001).

Besides, confidentiality and authenticity, data integrity is another important aspect of e-commerce security. Manipulation of financial transaction is a key avenue for economic fraud perpetrators, even in the traditional business models of brick and mortar. Due to the concentrated nature of e-commerce information systems are even more susceptible to corruption and manipulation. Hence the need to ascertain that information is not changed either accidentally or intentionally. Closely coupled with data integrity is non-repudiation, whereby a business ought to establish that there is proof of all the transactions performed, (Meyer, 2007).

Finally, the issues of availability are also a pertinent security concerns for e-business security. Business is obliged to ensure that customers receive certain pieces of information whenever they need them. Messages ought to be delivered in a timely and reliable manner whenever needed. Generally, these issues point to complex, intricate and interrelated problems that are continuously being associated with E-business and E-commerce, (Badger, 2013).

Significance and Relevance

E-business is gradually turning out to be an integral part of businesses process and operations. Almost every business today has some form of e-business undertaking ranging from complex web systems and application to simple social networking. Studies estimate that the e-commerce industry is currently worth upwards of $2 trillion. With such humongous capital and transaction outlays, it is imperative that we take a concerted effort in ensuring e-business security is at its premium. Failures to do so may lead to catastrophic losses and outages of general and critical services for the general population.

References

Amor, D. (1999). The e-business (r)evolution. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall.

Badger, Emily (2013). "How the Internet Reinforces Inequality in the Real World". The Atlantic. Retrieved 2013-02-13.

Beyond-Davies P. (2004). E-Business. Palgrave, Basingstoke. ISBN 1-4039-1348-X

Gerstner, L. (2002). Who says Elephants Can't Dance? Inside IBM's Historic Turnaround. pg. 172. ISBN 0-06-052379-4

 Lowry, Paul Benjamin; Cherrington, J. Owen; Watson, R. J. (2001). E-Business Handbook. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press.

 Meyer, Marc H. (2007). The Fast Path to Corporate Growth: Leveraging Knowledge and Technologies to New Market Applications. Oxford University Press. p. 30. ISBN 978-0195180862.

 Paul Timers, (2000). Electronic Commerce - strategies & models for business-to-business trading, pp.31, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, ISBN 0-471-72029-1

Pettit, Raymond (2012). Learning From Winners: How the ARF Ogilvy Award Winners Use Market Research to Create Advertising Success. Taylor & Francis. pp. 32–33. ISBN 9781136676765. Retrieved 2014-05-31.