Although security solutions are constantly growing in number and protection level, new potential threats are emerging as well.
According to Juniper Research, in 2020, online fraudulent activities resulted in e-commerce retailers losing $17.5 billion. As for 2021, fraudsters will make retailers lose about $20 billion, representing an 18% rise over the previous year’s numbers. As cyber-criminals get more sophisticated in their “games,” you should be aware of threats and be ready to respond quickly.
What Can Threaten E-commerce Business Security?
Financial Frauds
One of the most serious and widespread threats to the online security of an e-commerce business is financial fraud. Personal funds can be easily stolen if a fraudster obtains personal data, passwords, and credit or debit card information. The criminal then uses the stolen credit card information to purchase goods or services from the online store. When cardholders find out that their funds are in the hands of hackers, they request a refund, but still, a part of the revenue cannot be returned.
Phishing Attacks
Phishing is the sending of spam with malicious links clicking on which can also lead to money and data theft. In this case, both companies and their employees may suffer. As for customers, scammers create fake sites that look like your online store to steal customer personal data. As for businesses, site administrators can mistake a legitimate site for a fraudulent one, which can result in the unintentional transmission of personal information to criminals.
DDoS Attacks
DDoS attacks are still actively used to wreak havoc on e-commerce sites. DDoS attackers aim to make an e-commerce site overloaded and inaccessible to consumers, or to slow down website pages, causing potential purchasers to abandon the site. This leads to both short and long-term financial issues.
Vulnerability Attacks and Bots
Insufficient protection can lead to hackers injecting malicious code that alters the existing path to files, which contributes to personal data theft. Hackers also create malicious bots that, through malicious activity such as spam, card frauds, and account takeovers, can also negatively impact the e-commerce business performance.
Efficient Security Strategies
Each of the foregoing cyber dangers has the potential to harm or even bring your website to a halt. To help you prevent the threats, below we suggest 5 strategies that you can follow right now to bulletproof your e-commerce business activity.
Strong password
Start with creating a reliable password to access the admin panel of your e-commerce website. Further, go on changing your password as frequently as possible. These are the principles of password security. The longer you use the same password, the more likely it is to be hacked.
HTTPS protocols and SSL certificates
Using HTTPS protocols reduces the vulnerability of your web store to cyber-attacks. They not only protect the information submitted by users but also help you gain trust among your potential customers. Web store operators should also use a Secure Socket Layer certificate to protect their customers’ personal information (SSL). SSL encrypts data transmitted between your platform and your customers. It additionally strengthens the overall safety of your website and minimizes data breaches.
Malware detection tools
You can install special software to monitor malicious activity. Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning can help you prevent most security threats. For example, some cybersecurity tools can feature advanced security analytics to monitor user and network behavior.
Payment gateway security
The payment gateway establishes a secure connection to perform transactions and verifies whether the merchant accepts or declines payments transactions. The capacity to safely transfer payments is a key component of a payment gateway. To prevent credit and debit cards fraud, avoid storing credit card information on your servers and instead use reliable third-party payment gateways, including PayPal, Stripe, and others.
Apply firewalls
A firewall is a security device — computer hardware or software — that can help protect your e-commerce website by filtering traffic and blocking outsiders from gaining unauthorized access to the private data on your computer. By analyzing which traffic is legitimate and which one will harm your website’s performance, firewalls can protect your website from DDoS attacks, SQL injections, cross-site scripting, and other security threats.
If you are running an e-commerce business and want to maintain its security, it’s always a good idea to entrust your online store’s security issues to a reliable technology partner. Emerline has vast cybersecurity consulting services that can help you resolve issues of your business security. Take the first step to protecting your business and book a free consultation!