Marcus Richards
The term cybersecurity is often thrown around in the media in order to agitate people over any threats they may receive on their devices, but the reality is that cybersecurity is everywhere, widespread, and continuously preventing disasters from happening.
When running a website that falls under the category of eCommerce it becomes an attractive target for attackers. These attackers are after some gain they can earn from extorting and hacking such a website to then use the obtained information to earn money in several different ways.
Let’s not let that happen since running an eCommerce store is not an easy self-employed job.
What is cybersecurity?
Cybersecurity is exactly as its name describes, it is various different methods to maintain security within the cyber world, or in other words, within systems that are connected to the internet.
These systems include hardware, software, and data. There are both physical and virtual methods for protecting data and other such systems against unauthorized access which can also be used for your eCommerce website to be as safe as possible for your company and for your clients.
In what ways can your eCommerce site become jeopardized?
DDoS attacks, phishing, and financial fraud are three of the more popular threats that can reach your website. Financial fraud works in a way where fraudsters can create untraceable unauthorized transactions on your website. These transactions usually come in the form of refunds.
DDoS attacks are an abbreviation for Distributed Denial of Service. This attack floods servers with requests, rendering the server unusable and crashing your website. Though annoying, this attack tends to simply disrupt service.
Phishing is essentially a hacker disguising themselves as your legitimate business to then trick your customers into revealing sensitive data to them, which they can then use the information to exploit the customer and potentially your business.
Spam is also a form of attack on such websites. Spam tends to use emails that can be found through blogs or comments on your website to send out malicious links that can download malware on any computer if clicked on. Extreme spamming can also make your website slow down.
Brute force attacks are another threat to eCommerce. These attacks use programs that connect to your website and try to crack the main admin panel by figuring out your password. This is why when owning an eCommerce company it is critical to use various different, complicated passwords.
Other attacks include SQL injections (malicious code enters your database), XSS (infects online websites with malicious code), and Trojan Horses (client with virus connects and infects your website, thus allowing the hacker to swipe information).
Why is cybersecurity important for your eCommerce?
Threats to eCommerce are not to be taken lightly by any business, including small ones. It is your duty to provide a smooth and safe environment for customers to be able to enjoy your products and platform. Having strong measures for safety increases the reputation and overall revenue since you are less likely to lose any monetary value if you keep everything secured.
How to create a safe eCommerce website
Upgrading to HTTPS not only ensures that your website will pop up higher through Google search but also protects user information and data thanks to HTTPS protocol. To do so, you must first purchase SSL certification from the company hosting you, which will then grant you that secured green lock symbol.
Making complicated passwords that differ from each other and changing them frequently allows your servers and admin panels to become harder to hack thus keeping everyone safe. You can even set a notification for if an unknown IP address tries logging in, just make sure not to forget those passwords.
Educating your employees also is a big factor regarding safe passwords since there have been countless cases of employees cluelessly opening malicious links and downloading malicious content. Make strict rules surrounding this.
Having your own servers also keeps your website safer since a shared server can potentially expose you to malware. This may be more expensive but is something that pays off in time and gives your eCommerce store that technical boost it needs.
Consider an integrated eCommerce solution and hire a cybersecurity specialist to conduct a full audit on your website to analyze and find any vulnerabilities as well as fix them and maintain them. Though this counts as an expense, it is a necessary one.
Never EVER store credit card information on your servers because this becomes a liability and can result in hackers obtaining credit card data which will end in countless fines and a failed business. There are some well-known third-party payment processing companies such as Paypal that ensure everyone’s safety.
Multi-layer security is a good solution for protecting your servers from DDOS attacks by utilizing a Content Delivery Network, which filters out all the malicious traffic from your website. Two-factor authentication for logins is also a great option for maintaining extra security.
Keeping everything up to date is also key in ensuring safety as well as smooth performance.
Backing up data is a good way to avoid losing all data thanks to a cyberattack or hardware damage or malfunction. You can also enable auto-backups so you don’t forget.
Conclusion
With the number of threats that can purge your eCommerce store, it is only normal to protect your store and your clients by taking as many precautions as you can whilst educating staff and understanding threats, issues, and how your store works.
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