Needless to mention, criminals will follow those who have money. You should be familiar with the most recent eCommerce security protocols if you are an e-entrepreneur.
Juniper Research has released a new study that estimates merchant losses due to fraud in online payments to be $206 billion by 2025.
If you have a physical store that sells traditional goods, security guards will most likely have been hired and you’ll have invested in surveillance cameras and alarms to make sure your customers are safe.
Ecommerce businesses are no different. Your eCommerce security must be a top priority. Secure online shopping promises a great customer experience, which in turn leads to increased sales. It allows you to build positive relationships with your customers.
Online shopping is becoming more popular than traditional methods of shopping. Unfortunately, This steady increase in eCommerce also means that there is more potential for security breaches.
These breaches can occur if you don’t have a good eCommerce security system. These breaches can compromise customer data, resulting in the loss of sales, customer trust, and damage to your brand’s reputation.
If you’re a small business, it can be difficult to rebuild trust and your reputation. We will discuss the best practices and strategies that you can use to reduce online threats and strengthen your eCommerce security.
Although eCommerce businesses have some similarities to traditional businesses, there are many differences. You can be an eCommerce businessman. You only have one chance to get your eCommerce security right. If your online business is exposed to security threats from e-commerce, You will lose many potential customers.
It is obvious why. Customers would not shop from an online store if they were at risk of losing banking credentials or other sensitive information. You might not be able to bounce back unless you’re an eCommerce giant. Ecommerce businesses are not afforded second chances and the damage can be irreparable. It’s best to start with the right cards.
What is Ecommerce Security?
Ecommerce security refers to the guidelines that allow for safe transactions online. Ecommerce security is the set of protocols and steps that are used to ensure the safety and security of online transactions. Consumer confidence is increased by eCommerce security measures that are appropriate.
Common Ecommerce Security Issues & Threats
You need to be aware of a variety of threats that can affect your online store. Hacking, misuse of personal information, monetary theft, and phishing attacks are all common security threats. Let’s look at a few of the most common security threats that affect online businesses.
Financial Frauds
Online businesses have been victims of financial fraud since inception. Businesses suffer significant losses when hackers make unauthorized transactions.
Fraudsters may also request fake returns or refunds. Businesses are required to refund damaged or illegally obtained goods and products through refund fraud.
Jimmy, for example, likes to profit from fraudulent activities. Jimmy knows that friendly fraud allows him to purchase an item, then use it and then return it in order to get his money back. So he does it!
Spam
Emails are a powerful medium for increasing sales. However, they remain a popular medium for spamming. However, spammers can also use your contact forms or blog comments to spread malware and infected links to your computer. These spammers often send them via your social media account and wait for you to click on the messages. Spamming can also affect your website’s speed and security.
Also read: How to Protect Your Smartphone: 15 Security Tips
Phishing
This is a common security threat in eCommerce. Hackers disguise themselves as legitimate businesses to send emails to clients to trick them into divulging their sensitive information. They simply present a fake copy or any other document that would allow the customer to believe the request is coming to the business.
Phishing techniques include sending emails to your customers and colleagues with fake “you have to take this action” messages. This technique is only for your customers to follow up with the action and gives them access to their login information or any other personal data that the hacker may use to their advantage.
Bots
Bots may be familiar to you from your trusted sources, such as those that crawl websites and help you rank your site in Search Engine Results Pages. There are also bots that can scrape websites to find pricing information and inventory information. These hackers can use this information to modify the price of your online store or to gain the best-selling inventory for shopping carts. This will result in a decrease in sales and revenue.
DDoS Attacks
Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks and DOS attacks (Denial of Service), is designed to attack your website and cause havoc on overall sales. These attacks flood servers with many requests until they give up and your website crashes.
Brute Force Attacks
These attacks attack your online store’s admin panel to try and crack your password by brute force. It connects to your website using programs and attempts to crack your password with every combination possible. Protect yourself from such attacks by using strong and complex passwords. It is important to keep it updated.
SQL Injections
SQL injections are cyberattacks that target your query submission forms and attempt to gain access to your database. They inject malicious code into your database, then collect the data and delete it later.
XSS
Hackers can infect your online store with malicious code to target your website visitors. Implementing Content Security Policy can help you protect yourself from hackers.
Trojan Horses
Trojan Horses could be downloaded onto customers’ systems by administrators. This is one of the most dangerous network security threats. Attackers use Trojan Horses to steal sensitive information from computers.
How to Prioritize Ecommerce Security
Online businesses cannot ignore security issues when selling eCommerce products. Online stores should make security a top priority to ensure their customers have a safe and smooth shopping experience. Your customers can protect themselves against fraud and cyber-attacks with eCommerce security. Your brand’s reputation will be maintained and earned the trust of customers if you have the best security protocols.
Ecommerce Security Solutions
There are a few features that eCommerce stores that offer excellent security share in common. They don’t compromise on hardware and don’t rely too heavily upon third-party plugins or apps like Adobe flash. We will now discuss these features in detail so you don’t have to worry about security issues when you shop online.
1. Switch to HTTPS
You are at risk of being attacked if you use outdated HTTP protocols. I recommend you switch to HTTPS. It displays the trustee-green lock sign that reads “secured” beside the URL bar on the customer’s computer.HTTPS protocols protect not only the sensitive information that users submit but also their user data.
Most modern browsers warn users that HTTP protocols are no longer supported. Some browsers block access to the site completely. You will also see a higher rank on Google’s search pages if you upgrade to HTTPS. Google considers HTTPS a ranking factor.
You must first purchase an SSL certificate from the hosting company before you can make that switch. It is now a standard to have an up-to-date SSL certificate and HTTPS protocol. If you want to drive significant traffic, it is crucial that you have them.
Also read: Top 10 Cloud SecuritySolutions for Businesses
2. Protect Your Servers and Admin Panels
Many eCommerce platforms have default passwords that can be easily guessed. You are also exposing yourself to possible hacks if they don’t get changed. Make sure to change usernames and passwords frequently.
You can make the panel notify you of every attempt to log in from an unknown IP. These simple steps will significantly increase the security of your web store.
3. Payment Gateway Security
It may be more convenient to process payments, but it is not the best. Credit card numbers stored on your database can be a liability. This is a clear invitation to hackers and a risk to your brand’s reputation as well as the sensitive information of your customers. If your credit card data is stolen by hackers, you will have to close your business down. The heavy fines could force you into bankruptcy.
To save your company from this horrible fate, credit card information should not be stored on your servers. You also need to ensure that your payment gateway’s security is protected. You can also use third-party payment processors to complete the transaction off-site. PayPal, Stripe, and Skrill are some of the most popular eCommerce payment options.
If you are looking for eCommerce recommendations You must be accredited to the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard, (PCI DSS).
4. Antivirus and anti-malware software
Hackers could use stolen credit card information for orders anywhere in the world. This serious issue can be solved by anti-fraud or antivirus software. This software uses sophisticated algorithms that flag malicious transactions so you can take appropriate action. They can provide a fraud score that helps proprietors to determine whether a transaction is legitimate.
5. Firewalls
Firewall software and plugins are another effective eCommerce recommendation. They are both affordable but highly effective. They protect your site from untrusted networks and control traffic to and from it. It allows only trusted traffic to enter and provides selective permeability. They protect against cross-site scripting and SQL injections, as well as cyber threats.
6. Secure your website with SSL certificates
Files that link keys to transactions along different paths in a network are called Secure Socket Layer (SSL). These certificates can be used to identify credit card numbers and for regular queries. SSL certificates protect data from being intercepted between destinations. Secure data is sent from your end to the server.
You can conduct any type of business on your website. you require SSL certificates, to ensure that your website is secure. It also provides you with a certificate proving ownership, so hackers won’t be able to use your site for phishing.
7. Employ Multi-Layer Security
Multiple layers of security can be used to enhance your security. To protect your site from DDoS attacks or malicious incoming traffic, you can use a widely-used Content Delivery Network (CDN). Machine learning is used to distinguish malicious traffic from regular traffic.
To add an extra layer of security, you can use two-factor authentication. Two-factor authorization requires both a standard username/password combination and an additional code. This code is sent via email or SMS to the user’s provided number. This allows the user to access the service only if their password and username are at risk.
Also read: Top 15 Cyber Security Tools
8. eCommerce Security Plugins
Security plugins can be used to protect your website from hackers and other malicious attacks. They protect against malicious bots, SQLi attacks, XSS, code injections, and many other serious attacks. Astra is a feature-rich, secure security plugin that’s easy to use and implement. It can be used to automatically secure your website and prevent malicious requests from reaching your site.
9. Back up your data
Data loss is common due to cyber-attacks or hardware malfunctions. You run the risk of losing your data permanently if you fail to back it up regularly. It is best to do it yourself, and not rely on anyone else to do it. You can use an automatic backup service to ensure that all your data is backed up even if it’s not done manually.
If you lose your backup, you can make a backup of it. You can also choose managed web hosting services that create backups automatically for you like Cloudways.
10. Stay Updated
It is important to update WordPress core and security tools regularly. This can cause stress. However, it is worth installing security updates and patches as soon as they are released. Hackers can use bots to identify websites that use outdated software. This makes obsolete software a major liability.
11. Opt for a Solid Ecommerce Platform
You should choose a secure eCommerce platform that is regularly updated and provides top-notch security. You can be protected against common threats with eCommerce platform tools that provide regular updates. PrestaShop and Magento are popular options.
12. Make Your Staff More Effective
All employees should be familiar with the laws and policies regarding user information protection. You should ensure that they do not share login credentials and that you review all personnel with access to customer-sensitive information.
To prevent your employee from committing a cyber crime against your company, you must expunge all of their information and remove their access.
13. Watch out for suspicious activity
You should be alert for suspicious activity if you don’t wish any malicious attacks to take place under the red carpet. You can catch fraudulent transactions before they can occur, which can save you time and money. Special monitoring software can be used to monitor the activity and notify you of suspicious transactions. A scammer may use multiple cards to place orders or order from someone who isn’t the cardholder.
14. Educate your clients
Your client may be the one to blame for security breaches. They may be using weak passwords, or they might have sensitive information uploaded to phishing sites or into the hands of hackers.
These eCommerce security problems can be solved by educating customers. Inform your customers about the dangers of unsafe security practices. It is possible to make sure they have strong passwords and show them how phishing works.
To Sum Up
It is a smart approach to be aware of the threats that you will find in your immediate online environment. You should also be aware of How to protect yourself against These e-commerce threats are real and you should be prepared.
We’ve already established that mistakes are not allowed. Your business will be devastated if you make a mistake. The best way to make sure your eCommerce business is secure is to invest as much in its marketing and web design as in its security. It would be a wise investment!
We would love to hear from you if you have additional tips and tricks regarding eCommerce security. Please leave a comment below.
