10 Vital Ways to Secure Your Ecommerce Website from Cyber Threats
February 19, 2020
At present time, when billions of money is generated with user’s data, save guarding the data of an e-commerce website has become a difficult task. Although, there is no major differentiation factor for the cyber criminals to make choice from large scale or small-scale businesses, but small-scale business needs to be more careful for avoiding any kind of security threats as it may cost a lot and can become immensely difficult to overcome it.
It is widely known that the websites are attacked every now and then. And, in order to control such data breaches, there is the need to follow proper steps. And from numerous researches of past, small organizations are likely to get victimized by cyber-attacks on compared to the big scale businesses. Therefore, it is important to assure e-commerce website security from any sort of security threat and hackers. The first and foremost step towards e-commerce business is security and in this regard, the installation of an SSL certificate is the most vital thing to do. This is the way of assuring the URL of the company is HTTPS and is well secured. Furthermore, when it is about advanced authenticity, then the EV SSL certificate plays a vital role in giving the green address bar as a power to the name of the business and on the URL of the business.
Understanding the vitality of e-commerce website security, here below are few factors to lay important consideration on –
1. Train the Employees-
Giving extensive training to the employees regarding the importance of data security and conducting important tutorials on data breach prevention is the prerequisite. Also, there should be mock sessions for the protection of sensitive information of the users and further helping the employees’ to grasp the fact and act in accordance to it.
2. Only Authorized Employees should be Given Access to Business Computers
It should be ensured that only the team of authorized employees should be provided with access to the computer that has all the records of the customers and transaction records too. The better alternative in this regard is the creation of an account for every employee. This will restrict usage. Also, it’s important to have a track of all information on employee’s tasks.
3. Don’t Make Sensitive User Data Storage –
Usually, every website makes storage of its user information in the databases. But, ideally, any personal data of the users should not be stored after they are done with the final check-out process. The former user on visiting the website again will come back and shop from the website by entering all the financial details again and checkout as usual. As a result, the changes in identity theft and data breach will be reduced.
4. Maintenance of Security on Mobile Phones-
In order to keep the business confidentiality in control, many companies maintain the limitation of mobile usage inside the business premise, particularly in the zone of cyber security for avoiding data leakage which can further lead to security issues of the website. Additionally, they disable the access of official data to the employees on their personal phones. This way, a lot of change can be introduced with strong protection measures.
5. Data Encryption
It is important to encrypt all the information whenever vital data is stored on any device like cloud technology. It is not possible to decrypt the information without the private key. After the information has been encrypted, the only person having a key can decode or decrypt it. Therefore, this way the small businesses have encrypted information. There will be the requirement of a key to activate it and keep the data safe.
6. Request the Users to Create Strong Passwords
One of the major reasons that major cyber-attacks happen is the vulnerability among which weak password is the vital reason. Undoubtedly, hackers are well trained for breaking passwords using ample of techniques. It is important to make sure that the password created is the combination of alpha, numerical as well as symbols. Considerations should be made for including captcha validation for ensuring the right user is accessing the website. And, further to create a stronger password, the use of upper and lower case combinations is advised. However, one of the most advanced techniques is the two-way authentication which helps in resolving the security issues.
7. Make Use of Tracking Numbers for Every Order
Every ordered product that is shipped to any specific customer must be tracked using the tracking code and by following the link created on all the rules. This way identification of products from any sort of theft or fraud is made easy to detect. Also, there can be the situation when the customer may deny receiving any order despite receiving its delivery and further may ask for the cash back. A strong tracking system can definitely help in preventing such fraud cases as well. Therefore, there should be the system of delivering the product to the customers with the signature of the customer taken during order handling the parcel and generating the bill at the shipping address.
8. Track Suspicious Activities with System Alert Setup
In order to create the set up for tracking the software, tracking the pattern of user’s behaviour is very essential. Definitely, this will enhance the security. In fact, a good check should be made on every sign up or log in on the e-commerce website. Most significantly, this check will help in tracking the IP address of every user. Furthermore, every suspicious activity will be tracked or any brute force attack on the website such as SQL or XSS injections.
9. Create Backup Every Time for the System and Database
Having a back up of data is of utmost significance. And, when the primary server malfunctions or if anyway been compromised, online backups prove to be excellent solution. Along with this, maintaining offline data backups is also the solution for the maintenance of data copies on the official servers of the company. In addition to this, local backups help in rescuing from any sort of data disaster happening from the host providers.
10. Authenticate Control on Third-Party Security
Quite often businesses rely on various third-party vendors for credit card transactions, security issues and payrolls. Before looking for any third party for such functionalities, it is better to settle down with those through contract signing that will definitely help in strengthening the security measures and safeguarding the details of the company and data from any sort of cyber attack. Henceforth, they will be stated responsible for all the security measures. Therefore, it is important to opt for third- party security controls only after assuring a proper check on all the security standards.
Final Words – E-commerce website security is one of the most vital factors of consideration these days for any online business. Even a little negligence can become a big risk to the online business. Therefore, all the above discussed security measures should be considered essential to keep up the business on track in the best possible manner. In fact, even before the security, it is vital to have an installation of proper security measures.