The world of ecommerce is a minefield, and cybersecurity should be at the forefront of your mind when you’re designing or setting up an online store. But, here’s the snag; with so many cybersecurity tips and tricks to learn, it’s hard to know where to start for your Commerce store.
So, this blog post will go over some best practices for securing that all-important data to prevent any devastating security breaches down the line through less than savory methods such as hacking, leading to considerable revenue losses.
How do I make my eCommerce Site Secure?
It’s a scary world we live in. Every day, there are new reports of cyber-attacks on businesses and governments. And you’re not immune to them just because your company is small or doesn’t have an online presence.
The opposite may be true: hackers target smaller companies because they think these places don’t care about their security as much as big corporations do, but that couldn’t be further from the truth.
No matter what size of the business you run, it’s important to keep your information secure so that no one can steal sensitive data like customer records or financial documents by breaking into unprotected software and hardware systems—even if those systems belong only to tiny mom & pop shops with limited bandwidths for IT needs.
To secure your eCommerce store, you need a robust strategy that utilizes the best cybersecurity tips and tricks. Here are seven tips you will find valuable when trying to secure your eCommerce store.
1. Choose the Right Platform for Your Business
The type of platform you choose for your business can have a huge impact on the cybersecurity posture of your e-Commerce store. There are four main types of platforms:
- Open-source (such as Magento).
- Closed-source proprietary software.
- Custom development (usually from established companies with great cybersecurity expertise and resources like IBM).
Closed source is the least secure option because it’s not open to public review, so vulnerabilities might go unnoticed during testing phases compared to open source platforms which get tested by many people before updates are pushed out.
It also means that if there is an issue found in the code, no one has access to fix it unless they buy a private license—making them vulnerable again down the line.
Again, even if you’re going to use open-source, ensure that the platform has built-in security features and supports object-oriented programming. WordPress is one of the open-source solutions you may want to use because it allows you to leverage powerful plug-ins designed by programmers who specialize in cybersecurity matters.
This will help your website guard against threats such as bots and DDOS attacks. Always make sure you have a bot-mitigation solution at hand to take care of any unexpected situation that may arise.
2. Payment Gateway Security
To ensure that your customers’ sensitive data is kept safe from malicious actors, you must consider cybersecurity when selecting an online purchasing solution provider (OPSP) such as PayPal.
This means looking at their cybersecurity oversight policies; how they address vulnerabilities in their software solutions and security updates released by third parties; whether there have been any reported violations of PCI standards on behalf of this OPSP within the past 12 months with regards to cardholder data; and how they record, monitor, and report cybersecurity breaches.
3. Use Firewalls
Firewalls are a software solution that acts as an invisibility cloak, cloaking your cybersecurity defenses, so it’s difficult for hackers to find weaknesses to exploit.
They’re instrumental if you have vulnerable protocols in place because they can scan incoming connections and decide whether or not the requests should be allowed based on predefined rules such as “deny all incoming connections from unfamiliar, unauthorized sources unless specifically designated.”
Firewalls also give you an extra layer of security against criminal activities like SQL injections or cross-site scripting.
4. Secure Your Website with SSL Certificates
Many people think that SSL certificates are only crucial for online stores, but this couldn’t be further from the truth. In cybersecurity terms, an SSL is a digital certificate that’s used to secure and encrypt communications on your website or app by establishing trust between two computers with one another, preventing attackers from eavesdropping on those communication channels.
This means you should buy SSL certificate first and install on your online eCommerce store, because it’s trivial for hackers to intercept private information like passwords and credit card details.
5. Train Your Staff on Cybersecurity
Close to 90 percent of cybersecurity breaches happen because of human error and training your staff on cybersecurity can make all the difference. This means making sure they have a solid understanding of cybersecurity best practices like using strong passwords or two-factor authentication.
Password authentication benefits are significant in this regard. Encouraging your employees to use strong, unique passwords and teaching them about the importance of password security can greatly reduce the risk of data breaches and cyberattacks, ensuring your organization’s sensitive information remains protected.
How to detect phishing scams – even if that includes reporting them with authorities when necessary; not clicking suspicious links in emails from unknown senders, and not following suspicious links in social media messages.
Nowadays, there’s a plethora of online training programs that you can find– from Lumify Learn’s IT courses online to Coursera’s cybersecurity certification programs. So, it shouldn’t be difficult to find one that suits your company’s needs.
6. Invest in Reliable Internet Security Software
It’s always a good idea to install cybersecurity software on your machines and network, but you should make sure it offers reliability features as well.
For example, some of the best cybersecurity solutions offer protection from malware by preventing malicious code or suspicious downloads that contain viruses – by using a machine-learning cybersecurity engine to scan your system for threats.
It will also help if your Internet Service Software is up-to-date with the latest cybersecurity trends, like detecting new strains of viruses and Trojan horses.
7. Backup Your Data
Having a reliable cybersecurity solution in place is only one part of the battle. It’s also important to make sure that you have backups as well.
This way, if there are any cybersecurity breaches – like, say, ransomware or data theft from your computer network – then it won’t be such an uphill struggle for cybersecurity experts to restore all of your business and client data.
You want to make sure that your cybersecurity solution offers reliable backup features, like backing up data in the event of a cybersecurity attack, automatically storing backups for long-term storage, and being able to use those backups as an alternative if necessary.
Final Word
It’s important to note that cybersecurity is a continual game of catch-up, and there are always new cybersecurity trends on the horizon. Therefore, it would be best if you take cybersecurity tips and best practices, and training seriously.
The last thing you want is to fall behind the cybersecurity curve because it could be disastrous for your business financially or reputation-wise.