E-Commerce and Security Governance in Developing Countries

Abstract

Security is very often mentioned as one of the preconditions for the faster growth of e-commerce. Without a secure and reliable internet, customer will continue to be reluctant to provide confidential information online, such as credit card number. Moreover, organizations of all types and sizes around the world rely heavily on technologies of electronic commerce (e-commerce) for conducting their day-to-day business transaction. Providing organizations with a secure e-commerce environment is a major issue and challenging one especially in Middle Eastern countries. Without secure e-commerce, it is almost impossible to take advantage of the opportunities offered by e-commerce technologies. E-commerce can create opportunities for small entrepreneurs in Middle Eastern countries. This requires removing infrastructure blockages in telecommunications and logistics alongside the governance of e-commerce with policies on consumer protection, security of transactions, privacy of records and intellectual property. In this paper, we will explore the legal implications of e-commerce security governance by establishing who is responsible for ensuring compliance with this discipline, demonstrating the value to be derived from information security governance, the methodology of applying information security governance, and liability for non-compliance with this discipline. Our main focus will be on analyzing the importance and implication of e-commerce security governance in developing countries. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2008.