The recent hacking of Domino?s India website, coming as it does after several high-profile hacks including a massive breach of Sony?s Playstation network last year and Google?s Gmail servers before that, not to mention this year?s hacktivism that saw the hacker group Anonymous infiltrate websites of the Supreme Court, Congress, BJP and RBI, underscores the fact that as advanced as internet security might get, hackers can sometimes win. While Anonymous conducted its hacks as a show of protest, the Turkish Ajan Hacker Group, which took credit for the Domino?s hack, did so for malicious and criminal reasons?it has reportedly released names, phone numbers, email addresses and passwords of around 37,000 of Domino?s customers. For Domino?s this means customers could stop ordering online using credit cards (the main attraction of online ordering), making online ordering no different from doing so over the phone. Indeed, one reason for Flipkart?s meteoric rise is its cash-on-delivery feature, a USP that cashed in on Indians? reluctance to divulge sensitive information on the Internet. If this fear spreads, the number of online transactions could be hit quite severely.
So, the question is, if hacking is here to stay, what can companies and consumers do to mitigate the damage hackers can inflict? For companies in India, the first logical step would be to bolster their cash-on-delivery setup, or even offer credit card payment on location. And for consumers, if online transactions using a credit card are a must, then setting a low limit on that card, say, R5,000-10,000, could minimise the damage done via stolen information. That would ensure that banks don?t lose out on valuable credit card business, while companies and consumers continue to have the convenience of credit cards.
