In recent years, passing on sensitive data points like e-mail addresses and credit card codes to marketing partners has also been a frequent source of corporate data breaches--about 40% of all breach incidents were a result of a third party's handling of data, according to another Ponemon study, released in November 2007.
While bricks-and-mortar retailers only have to decide whether to accept checks and major credit cards, e-commerce is open to all sorts of other payment possibilities--including e-checks, PayPal and transactions in currencies other than the dollar.