How to Improve eCommerce Security and Protect Your Store from Attack
Almost every week you hear about another breach of security, another online retailer being hacked. Sometimes you have to ask yourself why, and what you can do (as a site owner) to prevent it.
The following tips have been provided to me by a friend and colleague and is the first in a series of articles on ecommerce security and what you can do to reduce the chances of first being targeted, and secondly actually being hacked
First of all it is useful to understand that some hackers hack for the fun and actual challenge of getting into a site and to quite simply test their skills.
Most hackers, however, do it to profit, and it is the latter that can really cause some damage to your business
. At the end of the day, however, those who target eCommerce platforms by and large do it for one reason: money.
If a hacker can successfully break into a large eCommerce website, they could profit very easily in a number of ways.
First of all by stealing credit card numbers which can be sold on the black market. Because people often use the same logins and passwords everywhere, their login details will often match email accounts, PayPal accounts and online banking accounts, where money can be siphoned out.
There is no doubt that hacking eCommerce websites is one of the most profitable forms of theft in the world.
So if you own any form of ecommerce website then please, please think about your own security system, and what you need to do to protect your customers
Implement a Security System
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“The job of a good security system is to allow your primary systems to do everything they’re designed to do, while not letting anyone do anything it’s not designed to do”.
It’s all a balance – If your security is too restrictive, it’ll get in the way of your business, and if it is not robust enough you run the risk of security breaches.
How Do I Implement a High Level Security System?
Imagine if you owned a bricks and mortar shop. Would you leave it unlocked at night? Of course you wouldn’t, and you would do your absolute best to make sure your shop is secure at all times. This might involves alarms, cameras,secure locks and vigilance
Adopt the same philosophy to your virtual real estate as you would do to your physical shop
Secondly, bear in mind that security breaches can either happen on your end or your client’s end. Occasionally it can happen in between.
The most important thing for you is to make sure your end is fully secure. In order to do this.
- You must have a secure server
- You must have secure encryption
- You must have a secure database
- You must have a strong password policy
Basically, secure every part of your business which you think could be vulnerable. Get advice from an expert – it will be worth it, I promise you
It is also worth helping your customers to understand how hackers might target them and gain access to their passwords. You can do this by putting in place password policies which are secure and difficult to hack into. We will talk about password policies in subsequent articles
ECommerce security requires you as a business owner to be constantly vigilant. Whilst there is no such thing as a server that’s completely secure, you can make it as difficult as possible for hackers. Encourage them to “move on”to the next site, there are plenty of vulnerable ones out there.
I would also recommend that you become a bit of a security expert yourself. Educate yourself, and always be on the lookout for new exploits and new ways hackers could try to break into your system.
In addition to this, consider hiring a trained professional. If you don’t have a skilled sysadmin on hand yet, hiring one is perhaps the most important step you could take to improve your security, especially if you are a large site.
Follow our steps to improve your ecommerce security and you should do enough to discourage even the most persistent of hackers
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