Providing a safe online shopping experience is essential to the success of your eCommerce. Be it B2C or B2B, you must meet the minimum security requirements to provide a sales platform in many jurisdictions. However, there are additional measures that you can take to make your eCommerce website secure, and therefore, more attractive to your potential customers. Online shopping last year reached between US$850 billion and US$930 billion. In 2022 eCommerce is expected to hit its first trillion-dollar year in sales. The majority of those sales are expected to be made on smartphones and the devices will account for more than half of eCommerce spending in the coming year. For that reason too, providing a secure website is important to close sales.
Passwords and 2FA
Passwords are still the most common first line of defense for all systems. As most computer users know, passwords should be a combination of random letters and numbers in upper and lower case letters. The password should not include names, words, or dates that are significant to the user or might be easily guessed. Passwords should also be changed on a regular basis, about once every 6 months for most devices. The next layer of protection is two-factor authentication. This means that once a user has logged on to a website or app, they then need to take further action to prove their identities, such as entering a one-time code sent to their phone or email. 2FA is common when people are shopping online, and the majority of people who are making purchases online feel that this additional layer of protection makes payments on sites more secure.
Use secure cookies
Secure cookies can only be sent via an SSL-certified connection. This simply means that any data contained in cookies is encrypted and therefore useless to hackers. To enable secure cookies you need to apply sitewide SSL on your website backend.
Sitewide SSL
The lock icon that appears next to the web address in the browser shows that the site is using an SSL connection. An SSL certificate is an additional layer of protection that encrypts communication between your servers and your clients’ browsers. Applying an SSL certificate sitewide, rather than only selected pages, is essential to the security of your site. Without sitewide protection, visitors are bounced between encrypted and unencrypted connections, which can make them vulnerable to cyberattacks while using your site. SSL certificates must be verified and up to date with the latest security changes for any website that accepts payments from customers online.
Address Verification Systems
An Address Verification System (AVS) helps eCommerce websites detect malicious actors AVS verify the data the customer enters during their journey to your site. Data that doesn’t match key indicators are flagged as a potential security threat.
However, AVS does increase the potential for false rejections. The technology is yet to support all payments types and is not suitable in all regions, especially for cross-border payments. Despite this, it does provide excellent fraud alerts and protections. To make the most of the tool, providing excellent customer services for customers who are declined and rejected incorrectly will help secure sales and customer loyalty.
Virtual Private Network
Using a Virtual Private Network (VPN) helps users to protect sensitive data on public networks. Using a VPN creates a protected funnel for sensitive data transfers. The tool encrypts data before it enters a public network, and that data can only be decrypted once it reaches the destination server.
HTTP headers
HTTP headers are used to share additional tracking information between the client and the server. They are commonly used by vendors to track market share in the server hosting market. However, displaying the type and/or version of the webserver used by a client can be used by hackers to expedite their work. Hackers are able to search vulnerabilities and openings specific to your web server with this simple detail. By hiding HTTP headers, you reduce the potential threat from hackers and add a layer of protection for your website and your users.
Up to date software
Many people ignore software updates, click past the red alert button displayed on backend notifications, and generally don’t take the time to update software. However, software updates are essential to protecting your computer and devices from attack. Software updates include patches, code updates, and improved capability as testing and ethical hacking detect vulnerabilities. Updating software is one of the most cost-effective, easiest, and fastest ways to protect yourself and your eCommerce from hackers.
Backups
Backing up your website is the best way to reduce corruption of data, protect your eCommerce and protect your customers. Schedule backups that are consistent help keep things up to date. Without a backup or saved website, it is possible to lose everything. Imagine having to rebuild your website from day 1, using all your raw content, with only the framework in place. If you are running a website or storing sensitive data, it is essential that you perform a weekly backup and store data offline to protect customers.
DDoS Defense
A distributed denial-of-service attack or DDoS can flood your server with requests or packets until the server is overloaded and unable to respond to real requests from visitors. You can protect your system from DDoS attacks, equip your network, applications, and infrastructure with multi-level protection strategies. This includes prevention management systems that combine firewalls, VPN, anti-spam, content filtering, and other security layers to monitor activities and identify traffic inconsistencies that may be indicative of DDoS attacks.
Malware protection
Malware attacks are powerful and can corrupt your system despite SSL protection and an encrypted server connection via VPN. Malware attacks are best prevented by educating computer and device users about cybersecurity and what they need to know to detect a potential threat. There are also tools that scan through your eCommerce website and detect and prevent forms of malware from finding inroads using your website.
Secure Checkout
Secure payment systems include encryption of information during the payment process as information is transferred between parties. The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard, or PCI DSS, is a global data security standard supported by credit card scheme vendors. As a merchant, you must select an API service provider that is PCI-compliant. Without the protections that secure payments services offer, your website will not be accepted by banking compliance officers, you can be flagged as an insecure site, and your customers will be warned against using your site by their bank when they attempt to process a payment, or the payment may simply be declined.
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