Owning an e-commerce business provides you multiple opportunities for success. One of the biggest benefits offered by these businesses is the ability to offer buyers around the world 24/7 access to what you have for sale.
However, with this high level of visibility, you are also exposed to risks. If you don’t take steps to secure your e-commerce website, then you are asking for issues. Along with protecting your ability to earn a living, you also need to take steps to protect your customer’s sensitive information. If you need help putting the right security safeguards in place, keep reading.
Trademark Your Business Logo and Name
An essential tip you need to follow to protect your e-commerce brand and site is to ensure your name is trademarked. Many entrepreneurs believe that if a domain name is available or if they have formed a corporation or LLC, the brand is protected.
This is not the case. If you want to ensure no one else can use your logo or name, they must be trademarked. This is a process that must be handled through the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. When you register your e-commerce business’s name as a trademark, it also protects future knockoffs, infringers, copiers, and more, who may try to steal or even capitalize off your brand.
Protect Against SQL Injections
Structured Query Language, or SQL, is a standard type of coding language used to access databases. With this in place, users can execute commands and manipulate databases, including things like record removal and data retrieval.
SQL injections are considered a common attack and use rogue commands to gain access to the sensitive information you have stored on your database. Three main types of these will occur. You need to implement strategies to protect against them. These include in-band SQL injections, inferential SQL injections, and out-of-band SQL injections.
Find a Secure E-Commerce Platform
Usually, e-commerce platforms are selected based on how convenient it is to build a storefront, the design range offered, and overall functionality. However, you should keep security features in mind, too. Try to find a proven and reputable e-commerce solution that offers solid authentication protocols, SSL certificates, and payment gateways for both buyers and sellers.
While some of these are based in a hybrid cloud, and that’s fine, the goal is to look into things like the security elements that have been put in place. Today’s cloud-based security platforms have made security much more accessible to both smaller and mid-sized companies.
This means that you can get many of the benefits of improved automation from certain tools. You also get the benefit of curated rule sets and machine learning that cloud-based platforms have in place. Be sure to carefully look at the security options in place, especially those that have intelligence built-in.
Make sure you consider the longer-term viability of the e-commerce platform you choose too and how often security patches and updates are offered. You should also find an e-commerce platform that will grow with your business and meet the future needs that it may have.
Use an HTTPS Site
SSL or Secure Sockets Layer is considered the standard type of security technology to build an encrypted link between a browser and web server. The link helps to ensure that all the data moving between the browser and web server stays integral and private.
SSLs are essential for any e-commerce transaction, which will help ensure sensitive personal and financial information is protected during the entire purchase process. This also helps to build trust for your online store and provide your shoppers with more peace of mind.
Because of how important having an SSL is for any e-commerce store, some sites offer them for free now. This means there is no reason for your site not to have this. Also, if you pay for this, make sure you don’t let it expire.
While this is true, many websites don’t have HTTPS. This is something that provides protection for your business and customers and prevents impersonation and sniffing attacks. If you want to achieve even more security, consider enabling HTTP Strict Transport Security or HSTS. This is something that lets browsers automatically redirect your HTTP requests to the HTTPS and prevents a user from overriding any invalid certificate warnings that may appear. This will reduce the potential of any type of fraudulent modifications to user’s web requests while preventing other attacks, too.
Never Store User Data
You need to make sure that you protect your customer’s personal privacy and data. This is essential and something that you can’t afford to ignore. Your business requires customer data to improve product offerings and communications and make it easy to return something purchased. The issue here is cyberattacks, such as phishing and hacking, that will target this user data.
When it comes to collecting data, the first rule to follow is only to collect information that is necessary to fulfill the transaction. You should avoid trying to collect more data than what is necessary. This helps you avoid inconveniencing your customers and the possibility of losing this unneeded information if a hack or breach occurs. One of the most embarrassing emails you will ever have to send is one explaining how your customer’s personal and sensitive information was lost.
Remember, a hacker nor cybercriminal will be able to steal something if it does not exist on your servers. Keeping users’ financial and personal information may be necessary for some things, but this should be done in secure online and offline servers.
Safeguarding Your E-Commerce Business
As you can see, there are more than a few things you can do to help safeguard your e-commerce business. Now is a good time to implement the tips above, as this is going to help ensure you have a secure site that will provide your customers with the secure experience they want and expect from modern e-commerce service providers. You can also see professional assistance with securing your site, which may be beneficial in some situations.
