There is an increasing need for you to secure your eCommerce website. Your eCommerce website holds a lot of sensitive data and involves huge amounts of transactions. Hackers want information and money, and they will be targeting your eCommerce website to have what they want.
We have already witnessed eCommerce data breaches in the past, and the trend is not stopping just yet. A Juniper Research projects the value of breaches targeting eCommerce stores to move from $17.5 billion to over $20 billion, and this represents an over 18% increase.
If these figures are something to go by, then it is easy to say that the system is broken and needs to be fixed as soon as possible.
Fortunately, eCommerce store owners have a chance to redeem the situation. By following the following cybersecurity measures and protocols, you will secure your eCommerce website from hackers and many eCommerce security threats we see today.
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Choose a Secure eCommerce Platform.
Choosing the right eCommerce platform is a critical decision that can significantly impact your eCommerce website’s security and success. There are dozens of eCommerce platforms available at your disposal. Making the right pick is a crucial yet difficult endeavor.
The eCommerce platform that you choose could make or break your eCommerce website. Before finally choosing, you must ensure that you research the available platforms and choose the one that gives the most security.
For instance, you must ensure that the eCommerce platform you choose has an SSL certificate, complies with PCI DSS requirements. The platform must have proper fraud detection and prevention measures and excellent data backup systems.
The following are some of the best eCommerce platforms that will secure your eCommerce platform from security threats.
- BigCommerce
- Shopify
- Magento
- Squarespace
- Weebly
- Wix
- WooCommerce
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Promote Good Password Hygiene
The internet world is a scrimmage. It is full of scoundrels, scammers, thieves. In such a world, you need more than “just a password.” Passwords are undeniably important, and everyone who has used the internet knows this.
Cybercriminals will use brute force attack as their first line of attack. In a nutshell, login credentials remain one of the most sought-after pieces of information for cyber attackers.
People tend to veer towards adopting weak and simple passwords. The Verizon 2021 Data Breach Investigations Report reveals that 61% of data breaches result from compromised login credentials.
This trend should serve as a warning to all eCommerce store owners. It is time you started following the best password policies. To avert unauthorized access into your eCommerce data fountains, you need to adhere to the best password hygiene.
Creating a strong password is easier than you thought. Here are some tips that will help you create the best passwords for your eCommerce:
- Consider creating long passwords. Eight or more characters would be an ideal length. The longer the password, the stronger it will be.
- Use complex passwords. A complex password combines multiple characters such as numbers, letters, and special characters. Again, the more complex a password is, the stronger it is to withstand brute force attacks.
- Avoid using passwords that a hacker can easily guess. For instance, including your personal information such as your name, pet’s name, or favorite football team will give a hacker an easy time. Hackers can easily find such information and use it to guess their way into your network.
- Be creative when creating your passwords. For instance, you can use phonetic replacements such as, instead of PH, you use F. deliberate misspelling can also work for you. For example, you can write “compyuta” instead of “computer.”
- It is sad to learn 60% of people reuse passwords across multiple platforms. Reusing passwords puts all your accounts in great jeopardy. All a hacker will have to do is gain access to a single password and access all your online accounts, including your eCommerce servers. As a best practice, you must ensure you use a different password for every account.
- Password storage sources also play a critical role in the security of your eCommerce store. You should avoid storing your passwords in your browsers. Additionally, I strongly discourage the culture of writing down passwords on a piece of paper. Anyone who can access these sources will easily hack into your accounts.
- It might be hard to memorize all your passwords, and the fact that you are changing quite often makes the work even more difficult. For this reason, I recommend the use of password manager tools to manage all your passwords.
Adhering to these password guidelines will keep your eCommerce website safe from hackers.
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Employ A Website Monitor
Most eCommerce hosting providers will offer security monitoring tools. However, this should not make you ignore the essence of more robust third-party monitoring security tools.
On the contrary, it is important to use these options because they offer advanced security measures and improved performance. For instance, monitoring tools such as New Relic and LogicMonitor will improve performance and secure your website from attackers.
Website monitoring tools will also help you to build a great dashboard. With the use of application and website health monitoring features and performance benchmarking capabilities, the monitoring tools will keep your website operating properly.
The good thing with the monitoring tools is that you do not have to be an IT expert to use them. Start keeping track of your eCommerce security by using the following monitoring tools.
- AppDynamics
- New Relic Browser
- SmartBear AlertSite
- Dynatrace UEM
- LogicMonitor
- SolarWinds Web Performance Monitor
- Use HTTPS
The Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure is one of the most vital security elements of an eCommerce website. The Transport Layer Security supports the HTTPS, formerly referred to as the Secure Socket Layer (SSL certificate)
HTTPS is a secure internet transfer protocol that ensures the safe transfer of information between two ends on the internet.
The SSL certificate offers the easiest and quickest way to secure data transfers between two ends on the internet.
In addition, SSL certificates encrypt the communication between web servers and users’ browsers. Thus, it makes it impossible for intruders to hijack, read, and decipher the communication.
Ecommerce websites that have the HTTPS status are said to be secure and authentic. HTTPS ensures web visitors establish that your eCommerce website is what it says to be.
As such, users will be protected from the ill-works of fake websites, masquerading as real websites, but with an ill-intention of stealing from users.
Today, users want to confirm that your website is secure, and they will do that by confirming the HTTPS status of your website.
To acquire the HTTPS status, you will first have to install an SSL certificate. You must ensure that you acquire your certificate from a trusted SSL certificate provider.
It is also pertinent that you know which SSL certificate will be ideal for your eCommerce website. Therefore, I will strongly advise you to buy Wildcard SSL certificate for your eCommerce store to secure the main domain and unlimited subdomains. It saves your money and time.
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Maintain a Security Focused Mindset
Ecommerce challenges are here to stay. They are evolving at a shocking rate. One might easily get tired of having regular security updates. But that is not the right way to go.
To win this war, we only need positive-minded people. A relentless, security-focused mindset is the only solution to the evolving threat landscape.
As a security measure, always ensure that you stay on top of the hackers. Do not tire because when you do, hackers might use it to their advantage. It is also important that you instill the same mindset in all your employees and customers.
Teach them the best security practices and tell them to stay on the toes of the evolving threat landscape and cybersecurity solutions. You should know that cybersecurity is not a one-person game. Impacting a cybersecurity culture on all your stakeholders will go a long way toward ensuring the safety of your eCommerce website.
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Undertake Vulnerability and Security Tests
When I talk of vulnerability or security testing, I refer to an important cybersecurity procedure called penetration testing or ethical hacking. It refers to the procedure of evaluating your computer system to discover security loopholes and vulnerabilities that could render the system vulnerable to attacks.
Penetration testing is important to your eCommerce website because it will help you uncover security risks that hackers could potentially exploit to infiltrate your network.
However, once you uncover the threats and loopholes, you will need to act fast to patch the vulnerabilities before the hackers leverage them.
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Regular Data Backups
Last but not least, you must always remember to conduct regular data backups. There is no full-proof cybersecurity measure that provides 100% assurance against cyber-attacks.
Hackers might eventually gain entry into your system. You might also lose your data accidentally. The question is, when such is the case, where will you run to? Backup files will enable you to continue with your normal business operation long after a successful data breach. For this reason, ensure that you undertake regular data backups.
Summing Up
Hackers are now targeting eCommerce websites. ECommerce websites store sensitive customer data and transact in huge amounts of money, making them vulnerable to cyber threats.
Luckily, you can use the seven tips in this article to secure your eCommerce website. You must use multiple measures to secure your website. The more measures you have, the more secure your eCommerce will be. Because the measures do not guarantee total immunity from hacking, you must have plan B. your contingency plan is the data backup file. Always ensure that you regularly backup your data.
