There is a rise in e-commerce platforms, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic, and most businesses pushed their brands online. It attracted cyber criminals since stores deal with sensitive customer data. Every store owner must implement different security measures to keep their brand safe and protect the client’s information. Proper security ensures better privacy, the integrity of customer data, proper authentication, and proper transaction actions. According to Bigcommerce, 15 billion records were exposed in 2019, showing that stores are at risk of cyber threats. The article will cover the importance of security and discuss e-commerce security tips that an owner must take to keep their shop safe.
E-commerce security Issues
There are different security threats faced by e-commerce owners daily when dealing with their sites. The threats mainly target sensitive information and can greatly affect businesses if not mitigated. Understanding how the threats happen will save you from facing them by developing different e-commerce security tips. The common e-commerce security issues include:
E-commerce Security Tips
Phishing
An event happens when cyber criminals pretend that they come from legitimate organizations by sending emails, messages, and links to the targets to make them click and send any sensitive information.
After getting the information they want, they use it for illegal purposes. The hackers usually pretend the email comes from a large e-commerce brand and use something like an offer to make them fall for the trap easily.
Viruses and malware
Examples of commonly used malware, i.e., Trojans, viruses, worms, and malicious programs, and bots, cause further damage by accessing your website and network. Malware does the following actions:
- It allows hackers to control all your e-commerce data since they have complete access.
- Send phishing links and emails to your customers and other devices connected to your network.
- Blocking you from accessing your data.
- Changing the database data.
- They take control of your devices and networks.
- Use it to fake your identity.
Malware protocols keep changing, which gives them a new edge on how they operate. Every store owner must learn how to detect and destroy them.
Bots
Many bot users are currently over the internet, mostly using them to automate tasks and get information quickly without any automation. Hackers use bots to mimic how real users operate. They harm e-commerce websites by stealing credit card information, i.e., CVV details and names, trying to guess the user’s login information, and trying them on different e-commerce sites until they find the one that is working. They also use them to steal your inventories and check your plans and pricing to make it easier for them to outrank you.
SQL injections
It happens when hackers hack the databases and check the SQL queries to ensure they can interfere with how the queries run and get the needed data. Hackers use different methods to find any vulnerabilities in e-commerce platforms, giving them the power to alter, modify, and delete any records they want. It can significantly affect an e-commerce site, especially those without a proper backup. They can use it to change how transactions work in your application, which could be a big blow to your store.
Spam
Hackers send malicious links through emails, comments, social media, and other mediums to make you click on them. Once you click on them, it will slow down your website and affect your store security. Implementing the e-commerce security tips below will save you from all these threats.
Brute force attacks
It happens when hackers try guessing people’s common passwords using different combinations until it is successful. They also try to find any hidden pages and try to access them. After several attempts, some get a few accounts from which they log in and perform different fraudulent activities.
Financial fraud
It is one of the biggest e-commerce security threats. It happens when hackers make different unauthorized transactions and remove any trails that may lead to detections. When the e-commerce owner notices later, the store will suffer many losses.
Other hackers can use the method of having fake returns, pushing the business owners to make refunds of goods or services that were never purchased. Another fraud happens when the hackers forge receipts for your store and later use them to ask for refunds, yet they buy nothing.
Distributed Denial of Service Attacks (DDoS)
They are normally based on denial of services. A distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) happens when cybercriminals send many requests to your website using different IP addresses. It makes your website go down due to a lot of invalid traffic. Sometimes when the website crashes, it forces your clients to look for other alternatives that they may have or exist. Owners must be cautious of this attack and implement enough security measures.
E-Skimming
It involves the hackers using different devices under the card readers to steal credit card information like card names, expiry dates, CVV, etc. which later gets sent to the hackers. It works the moment the customer enters their card details when trying to purchase something from your store.
Man in the Middle Attacks
It happens when the hackers intercept the communication between the servers and users. Customers may assume that the communications come from the server, but really, they come from the hackers. If successful, hackers can now access customer’s sensitive information, i.e., login information, credit card numbers, emails, etc.
Cybercriminals can also use the opportunity to spread malware to customers and websites. It usually happens using decryption and interception, where they mainly target the domain, HTTP, SSL, email, WIFI, sessions, cache, and internet protocols.
Importance of e-commerce security
E-commerce security tips help you secure and protect your e-commerce store from cybercriminals. Neglecting security concerns can have a significant effect on your website. Some of the benefits of e-commerce security include the following:
- It helps you protect the sensitive information of your customers. The data include full names, credit card and debit card numbers, addresses, etc., which most hackers target. Storeowners must implement different security measures to keep the data safe.
- To avoid fines, every site owner must meet several data regulations, i.e., the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS). Good e-commerce security makes it easier to meet and abide by the regulations.
- It offers protection against DDoS attacks, which can make it hard for users to access your site due to invalid traffic. It helps you block any invalid traffic affecting your e-commerce functioning, making customers access your store anytime without issues.
- It helps in the eradication of spam and malware. Hackers use spam and malware on customers’ and owners’ devices to block them from accessing your e-commerce site. E-commerce security tips block any malware or spam that hackers may send by blocking and removing them.
10 Protection measures to promote e-commerce security
If you are a store owner, there are different e-commerce security tips that you should put into practice to prevent your store from any attacks. Most tips are easier to implement and may require little time or specialists. The measures are as follows:
1. Use secure servers and proper web hosting platforms
When selecting a web hosting for your e-commerce site, do proper research to ensure your provider takes care of the customers, i.e., by providing backups, proper security, installing SSL certificates protection against cyber threats.
Other common e-commerce security tips are when dealing with the servers and the administration panel. Ensure that your company does not use the default password, i.e., admin, pass but rather change them to be complex to give hackers a hard time when they try cracking them up.
2. Implementing multi-layer security
After using normal security is better to use other security methods to provide extra protection. Besides using CDN to block any cyber threats, you can implement additional options, i.e., multifactor authentication. The user has to provide either an OTP or SMS sent to their email or phone number for them to access their accounts, making it hard for hackers to get access to your e-commerce store.
3. Use firewalls
Installing firewalls on your store prevents having an irregular flow of traffic and blocks users who may come from untrusted networks. Firewalls enable you to set the type of network you want on your e-commerce site, ensuring you get legit traffic and protecting your users from cyber threats like SQL injections, XSS, spamming, and CSRF.
Different firewalls meet each user’s tests, from PHP, Joomla, WordPress, Wix, Weebly, etc. Firewalls can protect you from over 20 types of cyber threats. It is one of the best e-commerce security owners for all site owners, no matter the levels.
4. Check the security of your payment platforms and integration
Most e-commerce platforms accept forms of payment using credit cards. Many owners make the mistake of collecting user’s financial details and storing them in their databases. When cyber threats hit, i.e., data breaches, the hackers easily access financial information.
Ensure that you protect your financial information by storing them safely. When selecting any third-party user, ensure they have a better security system. Proper storing of payment information and preventing unauthorized access is the most vital e-commerce security tips.
5. Ensure your site uses HTTPS protocols
Ensure that every site you own uses the latest version of HTTPS. HTTPS protocols protect your customer’s information by ensuring that it is safe from hackers by encrypting it. Many customers notice if your site uses the right HTTPS protocols by looking at the green padlock at the beginning of the site URL.
If your website lacks HTTPS, the browsers notify the customers that the website they want to visit is unsafe as it lacks some security features. The protocol also became one of the ranking factors on search engine results.
The best way to implement HTTPS protocols is through buying an SSL certificate. The common SSL certificates that e-commerce owners use include SAN SSL certificates or wildcard SSL certificates. Installing the certificate makes it hard for cybercriminals to access your data. It ensures that any activity that happens on any e-commerce store is safe.
6. Install security plugins
Installing security plugins on your e-commerce boosts security by protecting your site from common threats like SQL injections, bots, XSS injections, etc. It mainly applies to those who build their stores using Woo-Commerce and WordPress. Examples of security plugins include Astra, Sucuri, Wordfence, SecuPres, etc. Most of them offer paid versions.
7. Update your software
Ensure you update all the software you use in your workplace and others on the site. It will fix any security patches hackers may use to access your e-commerce data. Remember to have a schedule where you conduct regular scanning to see if there is any pending update. For WordPress users, ensure you use the manual updates, automatic updates can crush your site and make you face different issues.
8. Educate your team and staff
If you have a large e-commerce store with staff, train them on the existing cyber threats. And educate them on how to detect and avoid them. Develop work policies for your company to keep customer data safe. Ensure they understand them well to have a better option for keeping your e-commerce store safe.
Conduct forums to educate your customers on the importance of cybersecurity. Enlighten them on some common e-commerce security tips, i.e., strong passwords, two-factor authentication, etc. Create a store blog and create content about security, or if you have an email list, send them emails on the matter.
9. Install an antimalware software
Malware is a type of software program that attacks your device and ends up stealing your sensitive information. Installing antimalware will conduct scans on your device to detect and remove any malicious files. It will also notify you if any malicious files exist, and you can take a chance and remove them. It also allows you to schedule when the scanning can take place.
10. Choose the correct e-commerce platform
When selecting which platform to use for your e-commerce business. Ensure you conduct proper research and check the security status of each platform. Check the platform features, advantages, and disadvantages, and select the one that offers security updates to protect yourself from cyber threats. The commonly used ones include WordPress Woocommerce, Shopify, Presta, and Magento.
Conclusion
There is rapid growth in e-commerce, with every brand trying to get an online presence. Hackers develop new means every day of how they can attack stores and commit different cybercrimes. Every owner must understand how the threats work and put enough security measures to avoid attacks. Proper security increases your customer’s trust, affecting the number of sales you make.
Missing up on some of the e-commerce security tips can cost your business. Use the best security approaches and have a better framework if you work as a team.
