Did you know that the average cost for a data breach was USD 4.24 Million?

This is the highest level in 17 years.

Let this sink in.

You would know what sensitive information your customers trust you to manage an eCommerce site. You have spent a lot of time creating the best shopping experience and building relationships with your customers.

They are not at risk.

Over the past few years, eCommerce transactions have been steadily increasing. This has led to significant security breaches in eCommerce, which is a concern. According to the Trustwave Global Security Report retail was the most targeted sector for cyber attacks.

It’s not enough to do the basics. To ensure smooth transactions for your customers, you will need to take additional measures.

This article will provide you with top tips to improve security of your eCommerce store. These are my top tips. These are the Top Tips to Boost Your eCommerce Store’s Security.

1. Your team can be trained to raise awareness about Phishing 

Phishing attacks are targeted attacks where hackers use SMS and Emails to impersonate victims. Although the email may appear legitimate, the motive behind it is to steal credentials or personal information.

Phishing attacks account for 36% of all security breaches. These attacks are not only targeted at managers and companies, but also individuals who work in organizations. These hackers could make your employees fall for it and leak sensitive information.

Make security training an integral part of your organization’s culture to avoid this. This will require that you implement change management, and security training be an integral part of employee training.

You will need to create phishing campaigns and make sure employees are aware of the types of phishing attacks. How to stop them. Report them. Enforce real-time reporting. To provide phish threat training for your employees, you can use Sophos.

2. You can take better control of your passwords 

Good credential hygiene begins at home. Companies often forget the basic principles of password security, despite the danger to securities.

You should make a habit of never using the same password for any internal system that you use, whether it’s public-facing logins or administrative account passwords. Create unique passwords for each site and set up a schedule for password updates.

Although this sounds complicated, there are many password management tools such as Dashlane that can make it easy.

These tools allow you to sync all passwords on one device, and protect your data. These tools can also be used to generate passwords from encrypted vaults. Your sites can only be accessed locally by using a master password. Remember to change and update your passwords every few months.

3. Two-factor authentication is possible

Although you cannot change the passwords of your customers, you can enforce two-factor authentication to increase security. 

Microsoft states that multi-layered authentication can prevent over 99% of cyber attacks!

Two-factor authentication does not require that the user input their username and password. An additional code is sent to the user via email or SMS.

This would make sure that the user can only access the service, even if their password and username are at risk. To enable multi-factor authentication, you can use MFA authentication tools such as Duo.

4. Encrypt your Entire Store

An SSL Certificate (Secure Sockets Layer), which links keys to transactions across different routes on a network, is essential for eCommerce stores. It is a requirement for eCommerce stores to comply with PCI (Payment Card Industry).

Simply put, an SSL certificate properly installed will help you secure and protect your site data. It encrypts all information submitted to your site. Hackers cannot read or interpret this data.

This certificate not only protects your data, but also allows HTTPS (HyperText Transport Protocol Secure) to be enabled on your site. The extra S of “Secure” encrypts and connects to your site, adding a padlock icon beside your address bar. This will help you build trust with your customers and demonstrate that your site’s security and safety are top priorities.

5. Do not trust Native CMS Security

Common hacking targets are CMS platforms. They are vulnerable because of their open-source nature. Nobody pays much attention to finding and fixing security holes in CMS security systems.

A CMS can have many plugins or integrations. This makes them vulnerable to SQL Injection and cross-site scripting.

These open-source CMS are not accountable and cannot be trusted to always be secure. You can take the following steps to reduce security risks associated with CMS:

• To avoid being hacked, you should regularly update your CMS. Make sure you choose a vendor who takes care of security updates.

• If you are using an open-source CMS, look for the top-recommended security plug-ins.

• To prevent injection attacks, sanitize user inputs. Use parameterized and typed database queries in programming languages.

• Change default usernames like ‘admin’

• Set up a Firewall

6. Customers Security: Extra steps taken

Passwords will be the most common access key your customers have. Customers often use the same password in multiple places to make it easy to remember.

Poor credential hygiene on the customer’s side can lead to hackers cracking passwords and thereby compromising security.

Your customers could end up being your weakest link in this situation. As I said, you have no control over the passwords that they keep. You can help your customers follow security best practices, but you don’t have any control over what passwords they keep. These are some of the most important login security measures you can implement:

• Customers are required to use a combination of numbers and capital letters in their passwords. This will increase the security and complexity of their passwords.

• Set a minimum length password

• Usernames, Compromised Passwords, and Block Dictionary Words

• Make sure to use an on-screen password strength tester

• Remind them to change and update their passwords once a month.

• Limit login attempts

• To make logins secure, use a Google ReCAPTCHA

7. Make sure you have frequent backups

Imagine if hackers didn’t just break your security, but also deleted and wiped all your data.

It would be a disaster. It was not only a loss of customer trust, but also the order information. This resulted in a sales loss.

Cyber attacks and hardware malfunction are common causes of data loss. You can lose all your data permanently if you lose it.

A regular backup is your only hope. Backups are like an insurance policy. It may not be beneficial to you to keep your data up-to-date every day. It can save your life in situations like these.

Backups allow you to restore data, allowing you to focus on your business and ensuring greater security for the future.

You don’t need to do much. You can opt for eCommerce web hosting to enable automatic backup instead of manually backing it up.

You can go beyond the call of duty by making a backup. You have a contingency plan in case you lose your backup.

8. Credit card data should never be kept in storage

Most customers will choose card-based payment options for online stores. Most eCommerce stores use third-party payment gateways to facilitate these payments.

Some companies store customer data in-house. You should be aware that credit card data stored in-house can pose many risks.

Hackers are able to easily gain access to customers’ credit card information by using phishing, spoofing and hacking. Card numbers can be stolen via identity theft schemes or from unsecure websites. These fraudulent activities are often unnoticed until the card is subject to unauthorized charges.

Credit card data should never be stored. The following are the main reasons why you should not do the same:

• Employees are subject to Privilege Abuse
• SQL Injection Attacks
• Storage Media Exposure
• Limited Security Expertise
• Audit Trail Weak

First, learn about PCI guidelines and determine if it is necessary to store the data. If so, you should make sure that your software is up-to-date, that customers sign an agreement and that sensitive data is handled with care.

You can choose to use Stripe, a third-party processor that adheres to the PCI guidelines. They also follow the payment protocols for online transactions. These third-party payment processors often have the knowledge and expertise to follow security measures, which can help reduce compliance.

9. Use a card processor with address and card verification

It is impossible to confirm that the cardholder making the payment has been authorized to make digital payments. You need to increase the security layer in order to verify the transaction’s authenticity. This will help reduce credit card fraud.

You should not only ask for basic information like the cardholder’s name and credit card number, but also the following details

CVV (Card Verification Value): The last three digits of the credit/debit cards.

AVS (Address verification System): This is a numerical system to verify that the address of the customer and the bank match. 

To allow online transactions to be legalized, AVS is becoming more popular. The merchant automatically submits a request to verify the user’s identity to the card issuer by using the billing address provided by the customer. The processor verifies the billing address and matches it to the issuing bank.

If the addresses do not match, the bank will declare the transaction a failure. If the addresses do match, the bank will disclose a response code which describes how close the address is.

Customers may find it difficult to provide verification details. However, asking customers for verification details can help validate their purchases and protect their security.

10. Install Fraud Alerts

Even with double verification and two-factor authentication, there is still the possibility of security being compromised.

Set up an alert system to notify you if there is suspicious activity in customers’ use of their cards to pay.

Set up alerts using multiple variables. These variables can include:

• Multiple bulk orders can be paid with one card

• Orders can be placed from an IP address other than the one you are currently using

• Conflicting customer and billing data

• A single person can place the same order using different credit cards

• The billing information doesn’t match the zip code in the customer database.

• Multiple failed attempts to pay

If you are notified of any of these issues, you have the right to limit payments and suspend your order until you are able to address them and get approval from the cardholder.

11. Conduct regular PCI scans

Due to technological advancements and increasing data breaches, the PCI regulations and rules have changed.

These updates and renewals are the minimum you can do for your eCommerce security infrastructure.

Medium-sized and startup businesses are less likely to invest in data security than they are. According to data, more than half of businesses do not adhere to the PCI compliance guidelines. This is a risky bargain. This will result in both lost revenue and customers.

To detect security issues and keep the standard high, run PCI scans every quarter. These are the basic guidelines you should follow:

• Change the default password on all network devices
• Securely store credit card information by setting up a firewall
• Secure transmission of customer data
• Unique IDs for each cardholder
• The organization has limited access to credit card information

It may take a few hours each month. It can save you thousands and reduce security risks for your eCommerce store.

Conclusion

It is not enough to set up security infrastructure. It is important to put in the effort and time necessary to maintain security hygiene that doesn’t compromise sensitive data and helps you stay ahead of your competition. It will save you unnecessary security costs and build trust with customers that can make a difference.