Just as physical shops are vandalized or attacked by mobs during protests or time of upheaval, online stores are attacked by cybercriminals, with the difference is that they don’t wait for a certain reason or season.
Whether you are a small online store or a big multinational eCommerce site, your online business is always on the radar of threat actors. They will leverage every opportunity to steal your data, customer’s credit card information, PIN, and other information.
Therefore, Data security is one of the topmost priorities to consider for your online business. Having a data incident not only makes you subject to legal action due to your negligence but also gives a huge blow to your reputation as a secure, dependable business. As a result, you can end up losing money, reputation, and customers.
It is better safe than sorry. To protect your online business from cyber attacks, here are some measures you should follow.
Choose the Right e-Commerce Platform:
First of all, make sure to choose the right eCommerce platform. It is to your eCommerce site what a foundation is to a building. Will a building be safe with a weak foundation? There are many secure and dependable e-commerce platforms such as Shopify, Magento, BigCommerce, and WooCommerce.
However, look for scalable security features while choosing from these platforms. Check if they can be integrated with third-party security extension. Avoid a platform that runs on expired or near expiry versions. The older versions might not have the level of security that the latest versions offer.
Use the Right Hosting:
Choosing the right web host also ensures the security of your online store. Some web hosts are meant for hosting business websites. Some are designed for personal blogs. You need to choose the former type as they are more secure than the latter.
Make sure to check the following features in your hosting provider:
- AES encryption
- Scheduled/Regular backup program
- Network monitoring
- 24/7 technical assistance
- Quick disaster recovery
HTTPS Encryption is Important:
An SSL certificate makes your website secure and reliable for customers. This refers to adding a green HTTPS prefix to the URL and a green padlock symbol on the address bar. An SSL certified website encrypts the transmission of data between the web server and the browser.
Follow PCI Regulations:
If your business accepts payment through debit cards or credit cards, whether online or offline, make sure to follow the guidelines laid by the PCI Security Standards Council. These regulations ensure that any financial information kept by the business should be protected. Not comply with the PCI regulations can cost you a large fine in addition to making customer information prone to hackers.
Take Care of Your Passwords:
Passwords are an important cybersecurity factor. They can be easily decoded or cracked, if created wrongly. For example, many people use their date of birth, house number, or kid’s name as a password. By doing this, they are serving their “keys” to a threat actor in a platter. Today’s hackers are sophisticated and easy passwords are a low hanging fruit for them.
Therefore, always use complex passwords that are being composed of alphabets, numbers, and special characters. Also, encourage your customers to use strong passwords.
Have Strong Firewalls in Place:
A robust firewall guards your website against viruses and Trojan horses. It also alarms you whenever there is something malicious getting into your network. This extra layer of security can also outwit SQL injection and cross-site scripting hacks. Make sure to keep your firewall up-to-date with the correct configuration.
Train Your Employees in Cybersecurity:
Employees are the weakest link in cybersecurity. Sometimes they are tricked into giving information through luring emails. Sometimes they use simple passwords. Sometimes they lose the laptop or a flash drive that contains sensitive information. Therefore, it is important to get your employees educated on cybersecurity.
Bottom Line:
Admit it. Securing your online store from fraud and data incident is quite challenging. The cybercrime rate is on the rise. Therefore, your business can’t be supposed to be safe in this scenario. You never know when a threat actor gets their hands on your data. Therefore, it is important to get serious about the data security of your eCommerce business. To get to know more about it Read out our mainstream blog.
The above-mentioned tips are a compilation of some recommended and proven practices. Execute them. Stay safe.