Running an e-commerce business may be profitable, and an enjoyable task for most of us, but you need to practice certain precautions when managing your online business. It is needless to say that where the money is involved, criminals follow. If you are an emerging entrepreneur, you must follow all the security protocols.
“Due to a lack of awareness about e-commerce security, frauds contributed to $2.9 billion during 2014, and according to experts, security breaches would have doubled in the next four years.”
Hence it would be best if you took the necessary precautions that are available that will allow you to focus on your business without worrying about online threats. Some of the steps that you can take are mentioned below.
Use The Right Hosting
Online security starts with working with the right platforms. Although minor hosting can be cheaper for you, it may leave a breach point for hackers to invade and steal your data. It would be best if you did a thorough research about the hosting company to ensure that they are reliable for you to work.
Some web hosts are designated for hosting business sites, while many are general and are used mainly for personal blogs. If you compare the two hosts, the former will likely be more secure than the latter, and you need to make sure that you get a dedicated hosting plan since it is more secure.
Create Strong Passwords
Having a strong password is essential for maintaining cybersecurity. Some people also consider becoming a CTO to understand the necessary steps that you can use to protect your business from potential hackers. If you are guilty of using such passwords, make sure that you do not transmit it to your online business, or it may cause a massive amount of losses for you.
It would help if you created passwords that are long and do not shy away from using numbers and symbols since they are tough to crack for criminals and keep your data safe. You should develop a habit of changing your passwords once every three months so that your website does not easily fall into a criminal’s hand.
Educate Your Employees
Although the job of dealing with security threats is of the IT department, hackers usually use different ways to target a company. Many hackers utilize phishing to gain access to your company’s data, and the IT department cannot intercept them easily.
An employee of yours can easily open an email that catches his eye and exposes the company to the hacker. It would be best to educate your employees about the potential threat so that they are better prepared to deal with them and notify the IT department immediately so that corrective action can be taken immediately. A simple step, such as this, can play a huge role in deciding your company’s reputation.
Invest In An SSL Certificate
Nearly everyone with a website knows that they need a secure sockets layer (SSL) certificate to portray that their website is reliable. However, most of the new e-commerce owners are not aware that SSL certificates are all not the same.
The free version of SSL that is available for many hosting plans may work well for a small website that does not attract a lot of traffic. However, to avail the most reliable possible encryption so that you can protect your customers from data theft, you need an EV SSL. If you possess an EV SSL, the visitors will see the green padlock and a green bar with your company name, which will indicate that you have the most reliable SSL protection available.
Regularly Update your Software
Having regular software updates and patches is necessary for every business, especially those with an online presence.
“One of the ways hackers stole customer data was by exploiting the limitations present in web apps. Hackers are more than happy to use other software vulnerabilities that are present.”
However, it is easy to assume that security alerts are rare. They are not since a glance at tech headlines will show the security patches deployed by Amazon, Dell, and other major tech providers. You can keep hackers from stealing your customers’ data by continuing all of your software up to date and acting on all the update alerts from your providers. It would be best if you also run anti-malware software to get regularly notified regarding any potential threats that can damage your company’s data.
Conclusion:
Although there is no such thing as a completely secure e-commerce strategy since hackers are finding new ways to breach our security, and tech companies are adapting to meet the requirements.
However, there is no harm in getting yourself updated with the current standards to deal with the threats present and try to steal your data.
