Password Security for E-Commerce Sites

Last week, I wrote about key trends arising in E-Commerce and how those trends are making the digital playing field very attractive to vendors and consumers. However, there are disadvantages of E-Commerce. For example for consumers, there is an issue for online security.

In a study conducted by DashLane, they found that 64% of the top 100 US E-retailers have "highly questionable password policies, resulting in poor security of their users' personal data". A detailed report of DashLane's methodology for this study can be accessed here.

DashLane's Info Graphic on Data Security

With this lack of security enforced by retailers, it puts consumers in a situation in which their personal data can be jeopardized and puts light towards the hot topic of internet security, which has been here since the beginning of the internet.

Some savvy consumers often come up with elaborate passwords that they believe will protect them from hackers, regardless of what E-retailers are trying to enforce. However, hackers are smart.

According to Melanie Pinola of LifeHacker.com, "Our passwords are much less secure than they were just a few years ago, thanks to faster hardware and new techniques used by password crackers" .

In addition, making matters worse, "hackers know a lot more about our passwords than they used to. All the recent password leaks have helped hackers identify the patterns we use when creating passwords, so hackers can now use rules and algorithms to crack passwords more quickly than they could through simple common-word attacks."

This spells bad news as not only are websites not taking the necessary precautions to guide users in creating strong passwords, what we perceive to be strong passwords might not be strong enough. 

So the million (or billion) dollar question is.... "HOW DO WE PROTECT OURSELVES ONLINE?!?"

A few tips from Life Hacker suggests:
1. Avoid predictable password patterns

2. Use Truly RANDOM passwords
3. Use unique passwords for each site

Once the necessary precautions are taken, regardless of what E-Commerce sites enforce, we can continue to enjoy the convenience of E-Commerce with a sense of security regarding our personal data.