Ecommerce websites are always a soft target for cyber terrorists. Primarily because they are a goldmine of personal and financial data. Whenever a security breach happens on an eCommerce website, it causes insane damage, both in data loss and customer trust.
ECommerce businesses employ innovative strategies to ensure these security breaches don’t happen. But with each inventive step, cyber attackers also find new ways to bypass the security. Hence, web security becomes an essential part of any eCommerce website.
In this blog, we will discuss eCommerce security, why we need it, and the best practices we can follow to secure your eCommerce website.
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What is eCommerce Security?
Ecommerce security is taking necessary measures so that no one can access, use, modify, or destroy data on your website without your permission. The idea is to safeguard your eCommerce website from cyber threats.
The term eCommerce security is often used interchangeably with eCommerce compliance, which refers to meeting specific standards by governments or private institutions, such as PCI-DSS Compliance, SSL protection, GDPR, and CCA. While both the terms are closely related, the critical difference is that meeting these security standards does not necessarily mean your eCommerce website is fully secure.
5 Biggest eCommerce Security Threats Your Business May Face
1) Phishing
Phishing scams are common in the eCommerce industry. There are numerous cases in which cyber attackers often-trick customers into providing passwords, account numbers, and social security numbers via email, text messages, or phone calls. Sometimes, these innocent people even end up making payments.
2) Malware and Ransomware
Malware and ransomware are often challenging to detect, and the only time you get to know of them is when your system acts bizarre, or you are locked out of it. These eCommerce threats often result in costly downtime and a substantial financial blow to your business.
3) SQL Injection
The threat of SQL injection emerges when you do not validate the data stored in a SQL database. A malicious query inserted into a packaged payload can allow a cyber-terrorist to view and manipulate any information. Hence, it’s essential to follow proper validation and security procedures while storing data.
4) Cross-site Scripting (XSS)
In cross-site scripting (XSS), an attacker usually inserts malicious JavaScript code into the web page. As a result, when a user visits the website, they are easily exposed to malware, phishing attempts, or scams.
5) E-skimming
In E-skimming, attackers steal payment and credit card information from payment processing pages of eCommerce websites. The attackers gain access to the payment processing pages via phishing, brute force attacks, or cross-site scripting.
Best Practices to Keep Your eCommerce Website Secure
1) Allow Two-factor Authentication
Two-factor authentication may feel like a burden, but it can save you from a lot of trouble. With this approach, you can be assured that even if someone manages to know your password, they can’t break into your website. Given how much the security breaches cost, the approach is worth it.
2) Only Storing the Customer Data You Need
While storing customer data, you might want to leave nothing behind. But trust me, it would be best if you only keep what you need. Here is the reason why Storing data is more straightforward than managing it. In your quest to hold a large amount of data, you may realize you cannot handle it well. It can further make you vulnerable to cyber-attacks.
There are a lot of data privacy regulations you need to follow, and complying with all of them may be difficult. So, it’s advised to only store the customer information you need. You can even keep the critical data separate by segmenting your network.
3) Regular Security Audits & Updates
Website security is not a one-time thing. It’s continuous cat-and-mouse where sometimes you and the attacker will have the upper hand. The only person who will win is the one who will stay up to date. So, run regular security audits to see where your website lacks and then have your team patch those vulnerabilities. It is the only way you can keep your website safe.
Besides, you should also review your third-party plugins regularly and remove the ones that are no longer in use. The idea is to ensure only a few third parties have access to your customers’ data.
4) Real User Monitoring (RUM)
Considering the speed with which the eCommerce sector is evolving, it has become crucial for businesses to have real-time visibility into customer interactions across all channels. With real-time user monitoring, you can keep an eye on what your target users are up to and what issues they are facing and make quick decisions to fix them.
5) Use AI & ML to Detect Frauds Before They can Happen.
Most eCommerce businesses suffer a significant financial setback because they spend their energy controlling the damage instead of preventing it beforehand. Now, what if you can detect and prevent frauds and scams before they happen? You can save a lot of time, money, and effort.
That is why you must leverage the power of AI & ML to detect frauds. Some websites use machine learning to create flexible systems that learn on the go. These systems can discover hidden patterns and see any suspicious transactions. Perhaps, you can also use such techniques on your eCommerce platform.
In a Nutshell
Securing an eCommerce website is as essential as building one. Even the most secure websites lose visitors overnight if they are not safe. Hence, you can’t skip eCommerce security at any cost. Besides, you don’t need any out-of-the-box strategy to secure your website.
All you need is to follow the simple practices we shared in the blog. Once you have done that, you are good to go. Still, if there’s anything about eCommerce security I can guide you on, please share in the comments.
