6 Important measures to ensure e-commerce security 

Far beyond a pleasant and functional website, there is another conversion element that most online stores need to consider from the beginning: e-commerce security.

How to ensure e-commerce security 

Who manages an online store knows that e-commerce websites are one of the main targets for hackers and fraudsters.

The large amount of user IDs, personal information and financial information that an e-commerce keeps makes online stores attractive to cybercriminals.

To prevent this from happening to yours, generating losses that can completely undermine your customers’ trust in your business, you need to invest in e-commerce security.

Contrary to popular beliefs, nowadays website security is not expensive, accessible only to companies with large IT departments. 

We have listed six basic and important e-commerce security essentials to help you protect your online store.

1. Use SSL and ensure your website is PCI compliant

SSL is a digital certificate that encrypts information sent between a server and a browser. 

It is one of the most effective ways to achieve data security and keep customer information safe.

PCI compliance is a security requirement created by major credit card brands, in an attempt to reduce fraud and increase e-commerce security. 

The online payment card industry data security standard (PCI DSS) applies to all companies that process, transmit and store credit card data.

2. Use real-time bot detection technology

Every retailer’s goal is to increase traffic to their e-commerce to get more conversions. However, not all internet traffic is legitimate. 

You bots (digital robots) represent almost half of all online traffic in the world, and the bad bots account for more than 30% of fraud in online stores. 

What you believe to be a genuine influx of traffic could be caused by malicious bots run by fraudsters to reduce the prices of your products in real time or steal your entire product catalog, customer or supplier data, in just a few seconds.

3. Use a WAF 

A WAF (Web Application Firewall) is a hardware or software system that essentially functions as a gateway between two or more networks, allowing authorized traffic and preventing unauthorized or potentially malicious access.

Generally, WAF protects websites against common attacks such as XSS (cross-site scripting), SQL injections and DDos attacks. 

Since e-commerce sites have a lot of inbound traffic, they need firewalls to protect against malicious ingress.

Two firewalls application gateways and proxy firewalls are very effective in ensuring e-commerce security.

• Application Gateways: With an application gateway installed, there are two lines of communication – one between the computer and the proxy and one between the proxy and the destination computer or network. This is essentially a checkpoint where all information on the network has to stop. By serving as an intermediary point, application gateways help hide and protect your network from others by only allowing traffic or packets that have been authorized.

• Proxy Firewalls: Proxy firewalls take e-commerce security one step further. Instead of your network connection continuing, a new network connection is initiated at the proxy firewall. This means there is no direct connection between systems, which makes it even more difficult for attackers to discover your network and access it.

For a firewall to be effective, it must be configured correctly. This means firewalls don’t automatically know which traffic is malicious – they need to be programmed with this information. 

Therefore, this limits the ability of firewalls to detect malicious bots that cause most online fraud on e-commerce sites.

Additionally, web application firewalls analyze packets and can only block specific IP addresses, again proving to be ineffective against bot detection. 

Therefore, a WAF must be used with the intention of preventing DDos attacks.

4. Select a secure eCommerce platform

Research well before choosing one e-commerce platform for your business.

Ideally, it should be based on an object-oriented programming language with respective internal security protocols. 

In case, if you choose to use WordPress, select a WordPress security plugin that will add an extra layer of protection to your website. 

Keep in mind that from an e-commerce security perspective, e-commerce platforms do not provide a bot mitigation solution, which is recommended to be implemented.

5. Install a system to delete customer data

The best way to ensure your data isn’t vulnerable to hackers is to simply not store it. 

Get rid of old customer data regularly. 

Keep only the information you need to track packages, issue refunds and credits, and reverse accounts. 

It is also recommended to save names, addresses and emails for marketing purposes, but it’s important to think hard about what information you continue to store and why.

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6. Insist that your customers use strong passwords

If a customer’s information is discovered, they won’t care that the password they chose contributed to the problem. 

All that matters is that his data was compromised and that they lost money because of your store. 

It may seem unfair, but you need to save your customers from themselves. 

Configure strict password rules that force users to use capital letters, special characters, and long passwords.

Count on a secure platform and well-trained employees

Many security problems in e-commerce also occur due to human error. 

Someone on your support team may reveal an account number during a live chat. Another employee may provide a login and password over the phone to someone who claims to have forgotten this information. 

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All of this can be avoided by establishing strict policies related to privacy and e-commerce security, training employees on these policies and providing regular refresher courses.

The quality of your team is fundamental to the quality of your business and this goes far beyond sales.

By integrating your ordering system with reliable software, you are already taking a big step towards ensuring the safety of your business and your customers.

Specialized in fast delivery for e-commerce, the app Delivery365 has everything you need to create your e-commerce easily and safely and start selling products and services online.

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To learn more, visit our website, learn about our solutions and guarantee the best delivery service for your business.