Your ecommerce site is your virtual office and therefore it should be taken seriously. There are many cases of cybercrimes thus there is need to en sure that your site is protected from hackers. There are several ways in which this can be done.
- Choose ecommerce web hosting service provider wisely
People often think that the e-commerce site security is mainly based on the software they write. Although the web application itself must also be secure, the other chief factor is the Web Hosting being used. Between shared and dedicated hosting, dedicated is more secure and ideal for ecommerce business. Shared hosting has multiple users all are accessing the same server: running under the same operating system, using the same resources, etc. Dedicated hosting plan, whether it be a co-located server, a dedicated server, or a VPS, only a single user is using the server (or in the VPS case, the virtual server).
- Keep Data Encrypted
All the data that flows between the web server of company and the website of customers should have encryption in order to stay away from eavesdropping or a phishing attack. SSL authentication is a must-have for e-commerce sites from small as well as large retailers. SSL effectively protects sensitive data that travels across the web and encrypts sensitive information such as credit card details and passwords. The SSL certificate makes these important data unreadable to everyone apart from the intended recipient, protecting it from cyber criminals and hackers.
Sourced from: http://www.cso.com.au/article/570903/best-ways-protect-ecommerce-site-from-cyber-criminals/
Do not wait for trouble to come so that you can deal with it. Hackers can cause serious damage therefore you need to test your site for any loopholes that might give them advantage. You should also get rid of any customer data that you are not using.
- DON’T COLLECT OR SAVE CUSTOMER DATA YOU DON’T NEED
Hackers and identity thieves cannot steal what you don’t have. Therefore, do not collect or save any private customer data through your e-commerce solution that is not essential to your business.
When it comes to processing credit cards, use an encrypted checkout tunnel to eliminate the need for your own servers to ever see the customer’s credit card data. This might be slightly more inconvenient at checkout time for your customers, but the benefits far outweigh the risk of compromising their credit card numbers. Also, be certain hackers can’t remotely access any private data you retain.
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REGULARLY TEST YOUR E-COMMERCE SITE FOR VULNERABILITIES
Credit card companies require retailers to test their e-commerce websites to meet certain security standards. But simply meeting these regulations is not enough. Your better bet is to regularly test your e-commerce site to stop hackers from doing any real damage. This includes:
Regular scanning: Check your web sites regularly (including a test of all links) to ensure identity thieves and hackers have not introduced malware into advertisements, graphics, or other content provided by third parties.
Penetration testing: Consider hiring cyber security consultants or ethical hackers to identify vulnerabilities in the code.
Sourced from: https://garage.godaddy.com/webpro/security/10-ways-to-keep-hackers-hands-off-your-e-commerce-website/
You should also advice your customers to use long passwords. This can be prompted during signing up. You should also set up a firewall so that Trojans and viruses that could corrupt your system are kept out.
Instruct the customers to keep passwords long
- Customers should not share their password with anyone.
- Longer passwords are harder to break so keep the password long.
- Notify customers to change their password every 15 days or monthly.
To create a password, always use a mixture of numeric numbers, small alphabets, capital alphabets, and special characters.
Use Firewall Security
There are many Trojans and virus attacks that can be avoided with a Firewall. A firewall is a kind of layer of your network that alerts you whenever any suspicious events occur on your server. To avoid SQL injection and cross-site Scripting attack, online merchants should have an extra layer of security to a customer’s login page, contact forms, and search queries. Firewalls monitor traffic coming onto the server and you can set a predefine access control list to allow only consented communication.
Sourced from: http://tweakyourbiz.com/technology/2014/01/20/10-tips-to-protect-an-ecommerce-website-against-hacking-and-fraud/
