E-commerce is presenting a large opportunity for entrepreneurs to set up shop and start selling. Globally, e-commerce had a 14.1% share of the retail market in 2019; by 2023, Statista predicts 22% of all retail transactions will take place online.
However, online business is not entirely safe. Many e-commerce websites fall prey to hacking every day. According to a recent Forbes study, roughly 30,000 websites are hacked daily.
Thanks to the easy availability of sensitive customer info like customer contact details, financial data, e-commerce have become a hot favourite target for hackers.
You may think that hackers only target big corporations. It’s not true. They target small business e-commerce sites too.
Therefore, you must take the necessary steps to protect your customer information and reputation. In this article, we are going to discuss some of the techniques that will help you to protect your site’s from hackers.
Apply Two-Step Authentication Process
Since the birth of the web, username and password combination has been the default log-in process. Unfortunately, this log-in process has become increasingly easy for hackers to crack.
To protect sites from hackers, two-factor authentication is becoming more popular. The process of two-step authentication, also known as dual-factor authentication, lends extra security to your online platforms.
An extra step, such as entering your fingerprint, answering a security question, or texting a code, is required for two-factor authentication. As a result, it becomes unlikely for someone to log in to your website even if they know the password.
Implement SSL
SSL encrypts data that is transmitted across the web to provide a high degree of security. The protocol establishes a secure connection between a web server and a browser.
SSL helps to stop certain kinds of cyberattacks by authenticating web servers. Hackers often try to steal data by tricking users with fake websites. The authentication helps users to understand what is real.
In addition, it prevents attackers from tampering with data while it’s in transit, like a tamper-proof seal on a medicine container.
Ensure Robust Security
To stop hackers from gaining access to your network and intercepting stored information, you must install firewalls. It works as a perimeter defence line and thwarts malware attacks like ransomware and spyware.
To prevent application-level attacks such as cross-site scripting and SQL injection, you should also make sure login tables, search queries, and contact forms are secure.
Avoid Storing Sensitive Information
Sometimes hackers hack important data and files and demand ransom from the owners. Some information can be money-related and some can be very personal.
So, avoid storing sensitive info of customers. It is neither necessary nor safe. Be very careful when it comes to credit card numbers, expiry dates or the CVV number.
Store the smallest amount of data necessary to process refunds, so that even if someone hacks in, there isn’t anything worth stealing.
Make Customers Create Strong Passwords
When people shop online, they don’t really get too concerned about security issues. They are not aware of the consequences of weak passwords. As a result, both shoppers and sellers become vulnerable to cyber-attacks.
Make your customers use difficult, complex passwords – for example, make it mandatory for them to use uppercase, lowercase, numbers and special characters, and set a minimum length, like 6 or 8 characters. Such passwords are difficult to crack.
Only Use Extensions from Trusted Sources
Almost all e-commerce sites use extensions from third parties. You can find much of this software free too.
The problem is if the sources are not genuine, then your site gets vulnerable to viruses, malware and cyber-attack.
Before incorporating an extension into your e-commerce site, you must thoroughly research it.
Regularly Update Your Software
The reason software companies keep updating is not only to make their software more user-friendly. They also update software to make them less vulnerable to malware and any other kind of cyber attract.
The latest version is more bug-free and has more security strength. You should also avoid using the free version because it is more vulnerable to attract.
Ensuring better security is not only important for securing your data. It is also crucial for earning trust from your customers.
Securing websites from hackers will also help you to increase conversions, leading to improved sales and revenues.
