Dangdang users to be compensated

Online book retailer dangdang.com said on Wednesday that it will pay users for losses and upgrade its security system, after some 100 Dangdang users have recently found that their account information was stolen by hackers.

"Dangdang will fully compensate users for losses and this policy will also apply to similar cases in the future," dangdang.com spokesman Ye Xiaozhou told the Global Times Wednesday.

A consumer surnamed Chen in Shanghai claimed that all of the 4,500 yuan ($711) balance in his Dangdang account was stolen recently, the Beijing News reported Monday.

And a Beijing-based consumer surnamed Liu said that she immediately contacted Dangdang customer service after finding her account was hacked, but still an order was placed and delivered to someone else.

So far around 100 Dangdang users have claimed that their account information was stolen. On Monday, the company posted a notice on its website requiring its users to modify the passwords of their accounts by yesterday. During this period, the accounts on Dangdang were to be frozen due to security concerns, the notice said.

With the fast development of e-commerce business, user information security has become a daunting challenge for e-commerce websites.

Some users of 360buy.com also claimed at the beginning of this month that their accounts were hacked.

In its response to the data theft, 360buy suggested users to change their account information and go to the police. It said that the company will compensate consumers once it is confirmed their accounts were hacked.

Liu Jiahui, a lawyer with Beijing-based Derun Law Firm, told the Global Times that consumers entrust an e-commerce website with their account and thus the website should take full responsibility for information security.

"E-commerce websites should enhance their security systems and also remind users at regular intervals to change account information for security reasons," Su Huiyan, an e-commerce analyst at consultancy iResearch Consulting Group, told the Global Times.

China's e-commerce sector is growing more than 50 percent each year, according to Su, and the market of online payments topped 2 trillion yuan in 2011.

"Hackers will pose a growing threat to the sector's development. Both e-commerce websites and online shoppers should be careful about the security loopholes in order to avoid information theft," Su noted.

Ye from dangdang.com said that the company is planning a payment system that links online accounts to users' mobile phones - each deal on dangdang will need to be confirmed by a code sent to the users' mobile phone, to further ensure security of the deals.