No matter how high your turnover is or how many unique daily visitors your e-commerce platform gathers — being secured against potential threats should be your priority.
32.4% of all cyberattacks target online retail, and almost 98% of all cyber-attacks in e-retail have financial motives.
Think about how such a situation could damage the credibility of your business. A security breach, regardless of its size, can harm your reputation and discourage potential customers. It’s not just about being aware; it’s also about being prepared and ready to get into action when needed.
Below we dive into the practical measures that you can implement today to safeguard your e-commerce business.
Buy Mobile Proxy Services
Be it web scraping, monitoring, or internet access — when you buy a mobile proxy service, you make your business operations more secure and efficient.
Such services have advanced security features, including data encryption and IP anonymity. This will reduce the possibility of fraud, hacking, or any form of cyber attack.
Not only do these services protect your business operations, but they also increase browsing speed, reducing maintenance, and reload times. This leads to improved customer experiences and further strengthens user trust in your platform’s security.
Must read: Top 3 Security Issues in E-commerce
Regularly Update Your Platform
Timely software updates are one of the safest means to shield against many potential cyber-attacks.
Updates generally contain patches for security loopholes identified in previous versions.
Never hesitate to keep your E-commerce platform and other software tools up-to-date — it helps maintain web security and safeguard your customer’s information. Even using automatic updating options will further solidify your security defenses.
For example, if your platform is based on WordPress, there’s an option to automate updates effortlessly. This ensures the latest safety features are always implemented without requiring regular manual intervention.
Adopt a Robust Password Policy
Strong and complex passwords are a reliable defense against numerous cyber threats.
Therefore, enforce safe password practices among your team and your customers too. Conditions like minimum character length, including symbols, numbers, and upper-case letters, and compulsory password changes every few months aid a lot to strengthen security.
Encourage the use of complex and unique passwords for every session and discourage the repetition of previously used passwords. The inclusion of multi-factor authentication, like OTPs through text messages or emails, provides an additional layer of security.
As a good rule of thumb, consider educating your team members and customers about why strong, unique passwords are crucial for their account security.
Leverage SSL Certificates
SSL Certificates increase website security by encrypting any information transmitted between your website and the corresponding client’s browser, such as password or credit card number.
Your website getting identified with ‘https://’ protocol and a padlock symbol on the address bar helps build trust among visitors and ascertain your platform’s credibility. Also, Google, along with most search engines, prefers secure sites, potentially leading to improved SEO rankings.
Invest in Reliable Security Software
Investing in reliable security software is a must.
From antivirus and firewall protections to tools scanning for vulnerabilities, ransom alerts, and data leak prevention–these serve as strong foundations of a secure online business.
Security software solutions can identify potential issues in real time and act effectively to prevent breaches. This will not only help in maintaining the trust of your customers, but it will also keep you ahead of most of the loopholes that cybercriminals can exploit.
Perform Regular Site Backups
Consistent backups to your website can be a lifesaver in case of data loss during a security breach.
Ensure regular scheduled backups are maintained for restoring your site promptly, in the unfortunate event of data loss or site hijacking.
Remember, the backup location should also be safeguarded. Cloud storage solutions are advised as they provide fail-safe protection and can save you ample time during disaster management.
Implement Secure Payment Gateways
To reassure customers about transactional security, offering trusted, reliable payment gateways is crucial.
Only collaborate with payment service providers who follow the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) standards.
This establishes confidence in your customers that their sensitive financial information won’t be compromised during the transaction process. Moreover, never store customer card details unless it’s imperative for your business model, and safeguard these documents even when necessary.
Encrypt Sensitive Customer Information
Handling customers’ personal data with optimal care is a vital part of maintaining a trusted e-commerce platform.
To do this effectively, consider using encryption tools that convert data into code to prevent unauthorized access.
Essentially, if your database faces an unlikely breach, encryption ensures that the compromised data remains unreadable and useless to the cyber criminals. This encryption should not only apply to database information but also all forms of communication, i.e emails or chat messages, within your organization that contains sensitive information.
Conduct Regular Cyber Security Training
Updating your team’s knowledge of potential cyber threats and defensive strategies is essential.
Conduct regular cyber security trainings to ensure employees are aware and educated about the risks and precautions. Topics they can learn about include recognizing phishing emails, using secure networks, appropriate information sharing etc.
Regular training not only reduces the likelihood of human-led security breaches but also increases overall awareness and adherence to your company’s security guidelines.
Incorporate an Incident Response and Recovery Strategy
Think ahead and anticipate potential cyber-attacks on your E-commerce platform by having an Incident Response (IR) and Recovery strategy in place.
This involves creating a step-by-step plan to detect, respond to, and recover from a security incident. It could comprise measures like notification protocols, detailed response plans for various types of attacks, data backup and restore processes, and systems audits among others.
Today when cyber threats are common, an effective IR strategy provides a sense of preparedness and reduces the shock and disarray caused by an unexpected incident. Investing time to develop, communicate, and routinely improve this strategy would enhance your platform’s resilience, limit damage, and speed recovery post a cyber incident.
Don’t forget to involve all stakeholders in the planning and exercise of IRprotocols. Additionally, it is valuable to conduct incident response drills to ensure your team knows how to handle a real-life security breach efficiently and recover with minimal down time.
Monitor User Access Levels
It’s essential to enforce strict user access controls within your team to minimise the risk of internal breaches.
Keep track of who holds access to the critical areas of your business system and ensure only trusted individuals with appropriate clearance levels can enter those areas.
Constant vigilance and updating access levels as roles and responsibilities evolve is crucial for keeping your team’s access to data relevant and minimising possible internal security risks. Make sure each level has bespoke rules with individual and groups permissions, to further mitigate against unauthorized information access.
Regularly Update Systems and Software
Software and various systems without timely updates offer loopholes and backdoors that may be exploited by cybercriminals.
Regularly updating your systems, softwares, and plugins is crucial to ensure no known vulnerabilities exist. Always be on the lookout for patches and updates provided by software vendors, as these often address recent security threats.
Updates also include new features and improvements, along with compatibility updates, which contribute to increased system efficiency. Keep your e-commerce platform running robustly and securely by structuring timely reviews and application of latest system updates.
Regularly Audit Website and Servers
Checking over server logs and website activity can help spot unusual activity or patterns that an intrusion has or could occur.
Likewise, it is beneficial to implement a Web Application Firewall (WAF), set up Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS), and establish regular penetration testing. These measures are designed to identify and rectify any vulnerabilities in your systems on a real-time basis.
Auditing should be a scheduled task, thoroughly examining for suspicious traffic, intrusion attempts, and successful breaches, as this helps to uphold the safety and performance of your e-commerce platform.
After all, what forensic experts believe is that hackers typically visit multiple times before launching a full-scale attack. Therefore, proactively handling these traces of intrusion can prevent bigger threats.
Protection Against Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS)
Recently, DDoS attacks have surged, intensively harming businesses.
These attacks overwhelm a network or server with a flood of internet traffic, slowing down services or causing them to shut down completely.
To prepare for and prevent a DDoS attack on your online platform, you should implement specialized DDoS protection measures. These can be offered by security tool providers or through your hosting provider. Effective DDoS protection solutions include a high-capacity network, rate limiting, traffic analysis, and anomaly detection.
This security measure monitors and divides normal user traffic from a sudden rush to prevent a DDoS-equipped cyberattack from crashing your platform.
