Ecommerce security is very important if you are to make it in this industry. In 2018, online businesses experienced 32.4% of all successful cyber attacks. A successful business should use Ecommerce security protocols and measures. It will keep the business and clients free from attacks. We have discussed here what is e-business security, issues, and solutions. Ecommerce sites will always be a target for cyberattacks. For hackers, eCommerce sites are treasures of personal and financial data. Ecommerce business owners are aware of these threats and issues, increasing their security measures.
What Is Ecommerce Security?
Ecommerce security is the set of guidelines that are designed to allow secure transactions on the web. Ecommerce security refers to the steps and protocols in place to secure the sale and purchase of products and services online. Suitable eCommerce security measures enhance consumer confidence. You need to get your customers’ trust by giving them some eCommerce security basics. Such basics include:
- Privacy
- Integrity
- Authentication
- Non-repudiation
eCommerce Security Threats & Issues
There are some common eCommerce threats and issues you need to secure your online store from. Here are examples of security threats that include hacking, misuse of personal information, monetary theft, phishing attacks, unprotected provision of services, and credit card fraud. Let’s discuss some common issues that leave a bad impact on businesses.
Financial Frauds
Financial fraud has distressed online businesses since the start. Hackers make unauthorized transactions and businesses face huge losses. Some trickers or fraudsters also file requests for fake refunds or returns. Refund fraud is a common financial fraud where businesses refund illegally WQproducts or damaged goods.
Spam
Emails are a highly used medium for spamming because they are known as a strong medium for higher sales. Nonetheless, comments on your blog or contact forms are also an open invitation for online spammers who leave infected links in order to harm you. They often send them through social media inboxes and wait for you to click on such messages. Moreover, spamming not only affects your website’s security but also damages your website speed too.
Phishing
It is one of the common security threats of ecommerce where hackers fraud as legitimate businesses and send emails to your customers to cheat them into showing their sensitive data by simply presenting them with a fake copy of your legitimate website or anything that allows the customer to believe the request is coming from the business.
Common phishing techniques include emailing your customers or your team with fake “you must take this action” messages. This technique only works your customers follow through with the action and provide them access to their login information or other personal data which the hacker can use as per his benefit.
Bots
You may identify bots from your good books such as those that crawl the web and help you rank your website in Search Engine Result Pages. However, there are special bots developed to scratch websites for their pricing and inventory data. The hackers use such data to modify the pricing of your online store, or to garner the best-selling inventory in shopping carts, resulting in a decrease in sales and revenue.
DDoS Attacks
Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks and DOS (Denial of Service) attacks aim to disrupt your website and affect overall sales. These attacks flood your servers with many requests until they surrender to them and your website crashes.
Brute Force Attacks
These attacks target your online store’s admin panel in an attempt to search out your password by brute-force. It uses programs that builds a connection to your website and use every possible combination to crack your password. You can secure yourself against such attacks by using strong and complex passwords. Use two-factor authentication and change your passwords regularly.
SQL Injections
SQL injections are cyber-attacks intended to access your database by targeting your query submission forms. They inject malicious code in your database, gather the information and then delete it later on.
Cross-Scripting (XSS)
Hackers target your website visitors by infecting your online store with malign code. You can protect yourself against it by implementing Content Security Policy.
Trojan Horses
Admins and clients might have Trojan Horses downloaded on their systems. It is one amongst the worst network security issues where attackers use these programs to swipe sensitive data from their computers easily.
Why You Should Prioritize Your Ecommerce Security?
You cannot neglect security issues in online businesses. In fact it should be a priority for most online stores so their customers are able to enjoy an easy and safe shopping experience. Your ecommerce security allows your customers safe themselves from cyber-attacks and scam. The better your security protocols are, the better your brand will build its reputation and earn the trust of the customers.
Ecommerce Security Solutions
There are some common features in Ecommerce stores related to security. They don’t make budgets on robust hardware also they don’t rely too heavily on third-party apps or plugins like adobe flash. Let’s further discuss these features so that you do not have to face any security threats in ecommerce.
Upgrade To HTTPS
Using outdated HTTP protocols makes you unprotected to attacks. I highly recommend that you switch to HTTPS which shows the trustee green lock sign that says “secured” next to the URL bar on your customer’s computer. HTTPS protocols not only secure the sensitive data users submit, but their user data as well.
Since HTTP protocols are mostly unused now, most modern browsers show a message warning the user from proceeding further because the website is insecure. Another benefit you get from switching to HTTPS is higher ranking on Google’s search page since Google considers HTTPS as a ranking factor.
Before you make that switch, you must purchase an SSL certification from your hosting company. Having an up-to-date SSL certificate and HTTPS protocol has become the standard, so it’s necessary that you get them if you wish to get any considerable traffic.
Protect Your Servers And Admin Panels
Most ecommerce platforms come with default passwords that are easy to guess. And if you don’t change them you are exposing yourself to stoppable hacks. Use strong and complex passwords and usernames and change them regularly.
You can go one step further and allow the panel notify you every time an unknown IP attempts to log in. These simple steps can significantly increase your web store’s security.
Antivirus And Anti-Malware Software
Hackers can use stolen credit card information to place orders from anywhere in the world. An antivirus or an anti-malware software can help you with this serious ecommerce issue. They use sophisticated algorithms to identify any malicious transactions to help you can take further action. They provide a fraud risk score which can help owners determine if a certain transaction is authorized.
Use Firewalls
Another effective ecommerce security solution is to use firewall software and plugins that are pocket-friendly. They keep untrusted networks at bay and monitor traffic that enters and leaves your site. It offers selective permeability and only allows trusted traffic in. They also protect against cyber issues such as SQL injections and cross-site scripting.
Protect Your Website With SSL Certificates
Secure sockets layer (SSL) certificates are files that link a key to transactions on various paths on a network. These certificates are linked with credit card details and transactions to regular queries. SSL certificates encrypt data to protect it from interception in between different destinations. The data you send from your end to the server is secure.
If you want to conduct any type of business on your website, you require SSL certificates, so that every process that takes place on your site is secure. Besides, it provides you with a certificate of ownership so hackers can’t use your site as a copy for phishing.
Besides, it provides you with a certificate of ownership so hackers can’t use your site as a copy for phishing. To start protecting your website, you need a basic yet most secured SSL certificate type named domain validation SSL that does not require paperwork as other type of SSL cert. Moreover, it takes few minutes in issuance and offers SHA-2 encryption.
Use Multi-Layer Security
You can strengthen your security by using different layers of security. You can use a wide-spread Content Delivery Network or CDN to protect your site against DDoS attacks and incoming traffic. They do so by using machine learning to filter out the malicious traffic from regular traffic.
You can also use two-factor authentication to increase in an additional layer of security. Two-factor authorization requires a standard username and password combination as well as an extra code that is sent as an email to the user or as an SMS to their provided phone number. This makes sure that only the user can access the service even if their username and password are at risk.
Ecommerce Security Plugins
Security plugins are a simple way to impose security protection on your website. They provide protection against bad bots, SQLi, XSS, code injections and hundreds of other severe attacks. One of the most secure, easy to implement, feature rich security plugin is Astra. It helps automatically protect your site and virtually patch software by preventing malicious requests from ever reaching your website.
Backup Your Data
Data loss due to hardware malfunction or cyber-attacks is not uncommon. And if you don’t backup your data regularly, you are at the risk of losing it for good. You should do it yourself and not trust anyone else to do it for you. Implement automatic backup service so that even if you forget to do it manually, all your data will be backed up automatically.
You can also make a copy of the backup, so you will have a contingency plan available if you lose your original backup. Another option is to select a managed ecommerce web hosting service that automatically creates backups for you, like Temok.
Stay Updated
The importance of regularly updating WordPress core security tools, and plugins can be stressful, however, install security updates and patches as soon as they release because hackers can use bots that recognize which websites use outdated software. That makes outdated software a serious liability.
Choose A Solid Ecommerce Platform
It is important that you select a secure ecommerce platform that regularly updates itself and offers high quaity security. Ecommerce platform tools protect you against common threats and often provide you with updates. PrestaShop, Magento and WooCommerce are some popular choices.
Train Your Staff Better
Your staff should be aware of laws and policies related to the protection of user information. They should not share login credentials, and you should review the personnel who have access to sensitive customer information. Once your employee tenders their resignation, remove their details and reveal all their access to keep them from committing a cyber crime against your business.
Conclusion
It is a smart approach that you are aware of all security threats and solutions that are present in your immediate environment online. You should also be aware of how you can safeguard yourself from these ecommerce issues and prepare for them.
One critical failure will cost you your business. Therefore, the best approach is to invest in ecommerce security as much as you invest in its marketing or web design. It would be money well spent. Here are further tips how to avoid Ecommerce cloud migration mistakes. If you still have any query in your mind related to e-commerce security threats and issues, do ask in the comments.
