E-Commerce has really picked up consistent momentum over the past few years. From clothes, groceries, and furniture; there is an online store for everything. The risk of a data breach or theft has increased over time along with the industry’s expansion. Thus, it is essential for e-commerce websites to guarantee safety and preserve customer data. Businesses engaged in e-commerce are required to provide a secure environment for customers to disclose their payment information in order to complete online transactions. Cyber security is a massive concern when it comes to securing your store.
Cyber attackers constantly hone their skills and look for new weaknesses to exploit in this game of cat and mouse. And on the other hand, online merchants add more cutting-edge technologies to their e-commerce websites to remain competitive. Understanding e-commerce cyber security best practices and the many sorts of threats to watch out for is the best way to remain ahead of the game.
Why Cyber Security?
The most crucial aspect of an e-Commerce website, or at least it should be, is security. Online store owners that lack adequate cyber security expose their clients, their brand, and themselves to fraud and identity theft. Not to mention that stolen credit card information might ruin your finances, causing severe losses for your company.
Don’t assume that simply because your company is now little, it is secure. The fact is that smaller companies are significantly more frequently targeted than bigger ones. Cybercriminals anticipate lax or nonexistent protection on e-Commerce websites used by small enterprises.
Merchants will benefit from the information’s education and assistance in protecting cardholder and payment application data.
- Choose A Safe E-Commerce Platform
Get the fundamentals right, and the rest will fall into place, as the saying goes. Using a secure platform is the first step to building a secure e-commerce website. It might be challenging to select the right e-commerce platform for you because there are so many open-source and proprietary options accessible. But whichever platform you use, be sure it has strong security safeguards and keeps up with PCI compliance.
- Avoid Storing/Writing Card Holder Data (CHD)
If the retailers don’t store CHD if it’s not necessary, the risk of data breach and theft is eliminated. In a perfect world, businesses would gather all required cardholder data in one place and keep it separate from situations that don’t involve cards. In terms of the number of places and the amount of cardholder data that must be secured, this will lessen the breadth of compliance.
Note that Sensitive Authentication Data (SAD), which consists of Magnetic Stripe information and Card Validation Codes (CVC/CVV/CVV1/CVV2), should never be stored by merchants or other organizations that have a legal justification for storing Customer Handling Data (CHD).
- Keep Platforms And Software Updated
Tools are used by cybercriminals to find websites with unpatched software. You lessen the possibility of exposing vulnerabilities to prospective hackers by keeping your website and backend software updated with the most recent security fixes. Install and keep up-to-date business-oriented anti-malware and anti-spyware programs as well. To prevent attacks on your computers, the free antivirus software is insufficient.
- Two-Factor Authentication
Cyber Security breaches are frequently caused by stolen or exploited user credentials. Many “phishing” techniques exist to obtain or infer legitimate user credentials and jeopardize the security of your online store. Here is where a tested user authentication system is required; it serves as the basis for protecting your e-commerce website from hacker attempts.
As an additional security measure, two-factor authentication is used by many e-commerce websites. A legitimate user must submit two forms of identification as part of this cyber security procedure; the first is often a username and password combination, and the second is frequently an auto-generated code delivered to the user’s confirmed phone number.
- Avoid Malware And Ransomware
The software that attackers install on your machine is referred to as malware or “malicious software.” Malware known as ransomware blocks access to data or locks the victim out of their machine until the attacker receives a ransom payment. A few of the signs of an infection in your system are listed below:
- Links direct you to the incorrect page.
- Your browser’s toolbars and buttons change and new desktop icons also appear.
- You encounter a near-constant appearance of pop-up advertisements.
- Your computer is sluggish, it crashes regularly, or it frequently freezes and becomes unresponsive.
- Your emails continue to bounce.
- Monitor Transactions And Audit Regularly
A weekly check of your transactions and accounts is insufficient. If you check on Friday, something could be wrong by Monday. Everyday fraud occurs, so you should be on the lookout for transactions that seem off, such as those involving tiny sums or incorrect shipping and billing details.
Constantly cross-checking bills, transactions, and receipts not only helps you in accounting but also to recognize any ongoing and unwanted pattern that could possibly lead to data breaches.
- Deploy and Strengthen Firewalls
To restrict access to undesired traffic, merchants should think about adopting web application firewalls (WAF) and other relevant intrusion-detection technologies. In order to reduce security concerns from the web server linked to the Internet, it is advised that retailers install extra firewalls between the application server and the database server.
- Take Help of PCI SSI Resources
Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS) offers a range of educational and training materials to increase security awareness among payment card sector employees. To maintain security and adherence to the PCI DSS Standards, merchants and third-party service providers are expected to consult these publications.
