Are you the owner of an eCommerce store? So, as the eCommerce business develops, privacy and security are the two impeccable terms in peril! As per the research, 34% of the respondents consider privacy violations or cyberattacks are the top digital menaces.
Therefore, it’s understandable why the hackers are incessantly trying to rummage for loopholes in your eCommerce site’s security to gain complete access to the user data. Moreover, the U.S. National Cyber Security Alliance discovered that 62% of every cyberattack drastically impacts small businesses. Hence, the implementation of tight security protocols to impede eCommerce security threats become essential to maintain a protected selling and buying climate.
So, as you believe prevention is better than cure, it would be better to safeguard your eCommerce website rather than wait for a breach to ensue. Therefore, in today’s article, we will discuss the top 10 ways to protect your online stores and prevent all the eCommerce security threats. Let’s get started!
10 Sure-fire tips to bulletproof your eCommerce Website
As eCommerce security can’t be taken playfully and substantial data leaks can tear your online reputation down, you should use these below-mentioned tips for full-fledged security of your website:
1. Use an SSL certificate
Secure Sockets Layer or SSL is a top-notch digital certificate fostering the establishment of a close-knit connection between users and servers. It’s essential for every eCommerce site to gain sensitive user details, for example, credit card details.
Various web-hosting providers incorporate the best SSL certificate, and many resellers offer branded SSL certificates such as multi domain SSL, single domain, Cheap Thawte SSL, and Wildcard SSL, in their package.
The ecommerce SSL certificate and the SSL plugins redirect every request to HTTPS, the secured online protocol for the safest internet communication. Moreover, as every eCommerce store needs an SSL certificate, it’s designated by a green lock icon on the left side of the browser address bar.
Due to SSL certification, all HTTPS websites are considered secure and genuine. Hence, customers will flock right away to your eCommerce site!
2. Anti-virus and Anti-malware Software
An anti-malware software program is essential to impede the eCommerce security threats, including phishing attack, spamming, malware, and DoS & DDoS attacks. It’s a top-notch software program that helps identify, eliminate, and impede contagious malware from contaminating the IT systems and PC. Although malware is an umbrella term for all types of disorders, such as viruses, worms, and trojans; hence, getting an effective anti-malware would do the trick!
However, anti-virus is one type of software to keep viruses at bay. Today’s tech market is loaded with premium anti-virus software that can prevent virus contamination from other malware. Therefore, protecting your PC and its systems with a top-notch anti-virus will allow you to check on these threats.
3. Choose a secure hosting
A top-notch hosting provider is important for bulletproofing your eCommerce website as they are accountable for preserving your site’s files. Therefore, opting for a credible hosting provider that offers good data to rely on for your eCommerce store is vital.
You need to search for features such as an eCommerce SSL certificate, encryption methods, DDoS protection, and malware detection while opting for a hosting provider. In addition, you must ensure that it also provides backups asap to recuperate your eCommerce site’s functionality if a security breach ensues.
On the other hand, a secure hosting provider should protect your Nameservers with the Cloudflare DNS firewall to stop the biggest DDoS invasions. When choosing a secure hosting provider, you should consider if it offers a 99.99% uptime guarantee. So, take your time to assess every hosting provider’s plans to cater to your eCommerce website’s needs. If you would like to know more about the best web hosting options, check this article.
4. Keep your eCommerce website patched and updated
As the hackers keep searching for susceptibilities, the app developers find numerous ways to solve them. The newest updates on the website software often emerge, and those contain vital security patches. Consequently, you must pay close attention to all the updates.
If those updates aren’t automatic, you must be highly attentive to updating them manually. However, it’s a great idea to switch on all the automatic updates for your site and your whole system.
5. Use eCommerce security plugins
The security plugins are the most hassle-free way to implement security protection on your site. They offer a strong shield against SQLi, code injections, bad bots, and thousands of other brutal attacks.
Therefore, the highly secure, easy-to-enforce, and feature-enriched security plugin is Astra. This eCommerce security plugin helps bulletproof your site automatically and patch software virtually by impeding malicious requests from reaching your eCommerce site.
6. Assuring payment gateway
You must bypass storing the credit card details of your customers on your website’s database. So, instead, you need to allow a third-party payment gateway; for example, Stripe and PayPal tackle all the payment transactions away from your eCommerce site.
It ensures enhanced safety for your customer’s financial and personal data. In case you didn’t know that storing credit card data is a major requirement for obtaining PCI-DSS compliance.
7. Execute timely backups
Executing daily website backups help safeguard your site from issues, for example, security threats and corrupted database. You can organize website backups by evaluating how often you publish content and update the design of your eCommerce website.
Although most hosting providers offer automatic backups, it’s a great practice to download copies of your website’s database and files daily. If any unanticipated event occurs, website backups deter you from losing crucial data or needing to reconstruct anything from the beginning.
8. Choose the best-in-class eCommerce platform
It’s essential that you must opt for a highly secured eCommerce platform, which daily gets updated automatically and offers full-fledged security. The eCommerce platform tools protect you against ordinary menaces and keep giving you updates. However, Magento, PrestaShop, and WooCommerce are renowned choices. If you choose the Magento platform, experts will help you with Magento security services and Magento maintenance services.
9. Incorporate MFA
Users must affirm their login attempts by giving an OTP, using their fingerprint, or answering a security question with this method. As per Microsoft, MFA can hinder more than 99% of probable cyber threats.
Hence, establishing MFA is a powerful strategy to obstruct the eCommerce security threats and reinforce its security. You can activate MFA by installing a third-party app, for example, Google Authenticator, and a security plugin, such as Wordfence Login Security, on your mobile device.
10. Indoctrinating your clients and employees
You must ensure that customers and employees get the latest details regarding venturing user data and how to confront your site securely. Efface the details of the former employees and rescind all their access to your official systems. What refers to the new employees, train them on how to keep the security protocols or what to do when they bump a no DMARC report found message.
Conclusion
Cybercriminals are more powerful than before. Hence, eCommerce websites are highly susceptible to all threats, including spam emails, malware, social engineering attacks, etc. Therefore, every eCommerce store needs an SSL certificate and takes the aforementioned approaches to safeguard their eCommerce business and customers. However, hopefully, this article helped you perceive the significance of staying updated with its security measures to bypass potential cyber perils.