In order to make the most of their ecommerce websites, businesses need to ensure they earn the trust of consumers, it has been suggested.
According to research conducted by 1&1 Internet Ltd, more than half of UK consumers (59 per cent) worry about the risk of their details being compromised each time they input them into a business website.
In a study of more than 1,500 UK adults, 25 per cent of respondents said they had walked away from using or buying from a website due to fears over the level of security.
Some 55 per cent of Brits said they recognise the fact that threats such as malware and viruses change by the hour.
The same proportion think websites that capture data - such as contact details or billing data - can be a target for cyber criminals.
And as such, they are becoming increasingly risk-averse - only using ecommerce websites they believe they can trust.
"As the majority of business websites now capture users' data, every business on the internet needs protection," said 1&1 Internet Ltd.
"The use of open-source applications and self-coding can allow much customisation for designs, however, security can be an issue."
The firm claimed that websites built with vendor-managed templates, involve "very little risk of being compromised by malicious activity", as they leverage a professional system to create, update and protect the design.
"Mistakes as simple as forgetting to close parentheses when entering code, or not applying updates to open-source applications can help facilitate malicious activity from hackers," 1&1 Internet Ltd stated.
Posted by Alex Boardman