Although 2020 was a tough year for retailers it’s also the year that saw e-Commerce sales worldwide reach unprecedented levels. Businesses that already had an online presence improved their e-Commerce platforms to meet consumers’ demands, and brick-and-mortar stores moved their operations online to survive. This shift put online shopping at the forefront of retail—which is great for businesses that launched e-Stores—provided that their e-Commerce platforms are secure.
Not matter your business size, e-Commerce website security should be a priority. Cybercriminals are constantly targeting e-Commerce websites—especially those of smaller merchants—and a failure to invest in proper security measures can have a huge impact on your business’s reputation and bottom line. Here’s an overview of the most common e-Commerce security threats out there and how to prevent them.
The Most Common e-Commerce Threat
There are countless ways of hacking an e-Commerce site, but the biggest and most common threat is e-Commerce fraud. It happens to businesses every day when someone makes a transaction using a fraudulent payment method. E-Commerce fraud can take many forms, such as:
- Chargeback Fraud: When a customer initiates a chargeback after purchasing a product, claiming they didn’t buy it themselves or never received it.
- Identity Theft: When a cybercriminal buys products online using stolen cardholder information.
- Email Phishing: When a customer receives what looks like a normal delivery confirmation email, but which contains malware.
- Pagejacking: When a hacker builds a fake website mimicking a business’s real e-Commerce site to steal customer personal and payment information.
Other Security Threats
- SQL Injections: Uses the SQL programming language to create commands to communicate with the e-Commerce website database to access sensitive information and gain unauthorized access.
- Cross-Site Scripting (XSS): Executes malicious scripts into a web browser by injecting client-code into legitimate websites that allow customers input or comments. XXS can change content on an e-Commerce site or redirect the usual e-Commerce traffic to another site.
- Malware Infections: Include such things as viruses, ransomware, spyware, and worms that will steal consumer private information, erase data, and even take an e-Commerce website hostage.
- Denial of Service (DoS): An attack that shuts down an e-Commerce site by spamming it with illegitimate traffic, making it impossible for regular customers to access it.
- Distributed Denial of Service (DDos): An attack carried out by botnets that operate a group of computers infected with malware that damages e-Commerce websites.
Top e-Commerce Security Measures
- E-Commerce Platform: Researching and choosing the right e-Commerce hosting platform is paramount, especially for small businesses or merchants new to online operations. Ideally, the platform should allow you to design the site, manage aspects such as marketing and conversion, and guarantee enough uptime for customers. The platform should also come with reliable 24/7 support.
- SSL Certificates: Secure Service Layer certificates encrypt consumer data. When customers send their data through your e-Commerce website’s servers, it goes to multiple computers and becomes at risk of being hacked. SSL certificates ensure that confidential user information is stored securely by encrypting the data sent through the servers and making it unreadable. Moreover, an SSL certification is mandatory for merchants who operate-Commerce sites and need to comply with PCI Security Standards.
- Website Application Firewall: E-Commerce sites receive a lot of incoming traffic daily and must have a robust firewall to allow secure connections and block harmful threats. The two most important types of firewalls to consider are application gateways and proxy firewalls. Application gateways will protect your website from outside sources and only allow authorized information to pass through. Proxy firewalls will filter messages at the application layer.
- E-Commerce Data Back Up: Regularly backing up your data won’t eliminate security threats but it’s a good business practice. It helps protect confidential information and minimizes damage if there’s a breach. You should back up your e-Commerce site every day or at least after every update.
- Data and Payment Processing: Choose a company with a good reputation and thorough e-Commerce expertise as your data and payment partner. Ideally, they should provide a payment platform compatible with your e-Commerce web host and comply with PCI Security Standards to ensure that your online store is protected against fraud and attacks.
The 2020 Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report showed that most attacks against e-Commerce websites were financially motivated, and that personal data (49%) and payment data (47%) was the most stolen information. When it comes to business longevity, the key to success remains the same whether you’re offline or online. Customers need to trust you, and it will only happen if they know they can spend their money safely in your stores.
Want to know how to make your e-Commerce website secure? Contact our Customer Support team today for a free consultation at info@ottpay.com or call us at 1-800-688-9838.