Online traders warned to check security in wake of WikiLeaks hack attacks

FIRMS trading online are being urged to check that the technology used to drive their web businesses is robust enough to cope with fallout from the threat from WikiLeaks "hacktivists".

PricewaterhouseCoopers said that following attacks on the websites of Amazon, PayPal, Visa and Mastercard, more retailers, payment processing businesses and credit card firms are being hit and having their revenues threatened during the Christmas period.

Analyst Stephen Pritchard, of the ITPRO website, cited a growing commercial uncertainty emerging on the internet, where the WikiLeaks phenomenon has "created an environment that is now becoming increasingly dangerous for any organisation doing business online".

Raymond O'Hare, chairman of the Institute of Directors in Scotland and the former Scottish director of Microsoft, said an IT audit of a firm's online governance standards should be conducted urgently.

"Companies are becoming anxious that they might, through no fault of their own, become caught up in WikiLeaks-related damaging commercial activity, especially those companies with significant numbers of online customers.

"Whatever size a business is, but especially small to medium-sized firms, you should be asking yourself: what standards have we set to ensure our information is looked after properly along with our commercial privacy?"

Data loss, denial of service or "outage" disruption can cost a company tens of thousands of pounds in lost business.