In recent months internet retailers have had a huge increase in sales and revenue. More transactions, on the other hand, means that more client data is being transmitted, making your e-commerce site an ideal target for hackers.
E-Commerce Security
Today we’ll be talking about ways to improve the E-commerce security for your online store.
Fortunately, you can enjoy increased online profits without the risks to your clients. You can ensure that your e-commerce site functions smoothly and safely by taking a few simple steps.
We’ll go through six techniques to secure your online store that will help prevent attackers from stealing client payment information, uploading dangerous code, or hacking into your E-commerce store and reaping havoc by deleting all of your orders.
Cyber Security
Ok, so let’s get this party started!
You may be asking the question, why it’s critical to secure your online store?
First of all COVID-19 has pushed online sales to new heights since 2020 when the pandemic hit. Heavyweights like Amazon reported unprecedented revenues, while worldwide retail e-commerce traffic hit an all time high.
Experts forecast continued record-breaking internet retail sales, despite the fact that numerous COVID-19 limitations are being lifted throughout the world. In fact this year’s e-commerce holiday sales are expected to hit $196 billion.
Protecting your site and your consumers is always a top issue for a competent e-commerce business owners. However, the stakes could be bigger than ever this next holiday season. That’s why we want to help you provide a safe environment for your clients while increasing your earnings, by taking the steps now to secure your website’s store.
You can make your store more resilient to attacks aimed at taking it down, such as Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks. Outages are terrible news for e-commerce businesses at any time, but they may be especially damaging during high selling seasons.
When Amazon’s site was down during Prime Day 2018, for example, it’s estimated that the company lost up to $99 million in sales. You may prevent missing out on that lost revenue by making your store more resistant to such attacks.
6 Strategies to Keep Your Online Store Safe
Your online store may become a tempting target for hackers during busy trade hours. Here are six strategies to keep your e-commerce site safe, whether they aim to steal personal client data, disseminate malicious malware to as many customers as possible, or simply cause mayhem.
1. Keep your WordPress dashboard safe.
Your e-commerce business’s nerve center is your WordPress dashboard. If a malevolent third party gains access to it, they may be able to cause significant damage to your online store.
A malevolent third party could alter product prices, remove items from your inventory, or steal payment information from customers. This will lead to a loss of revenue and customer trust, as well as the possibility of legal action.
Your dashboard’s main line of security is your admin password, however passwords are linked to over 80% of breaches. This means you should use a long, complex password that is unique to your site to secure your WordPress login credentials.
A data leak at a completely unrelated website or service could put your e-commerce firm at danger if you reuse your WordPress admin password. This was recently demonstrated when 44 million Microsoft accounts were hacked as a result of password reuse.
Using a program like LastPass, you may build a long, complex password. LastPass can also be used to save your passwords. If you’re worried about memorizing a long list of difficult, unique credentials for each of your accounts, this is a good option.
2. Make Two-Factor Authentication active. (2FA)
MFA (Multi-Factor Authentication) or Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) is a sophisticated security technique. Even in the event that they have the correct login credentials, users must verify their identities in at least two methods after activating it before they can access your e-commerce dashboard. This is frequently in the form of a code that is sent via email or push notification.
Many well-known brands utilize 2FA, and Microsoft recommends MFA to all of its clients. “Based on our tests, your account is more than 99.9% less likely to be hacked if you use MFA,” Alex Weinert, Group Program Manager for Identity Security and Protection at Microsoft, stated of the benefits of MFA.
Using free mobile apps like Google Authenticator, you can secure your online business from 99.9% of password-based assaults. You can keep hostile third parties out of your e-commerce store by tying it to your WordPress site with the use of a plugin, even if they crack your password.
3. Use Jetpack to secure your store.
Jetpack, dubbed the “ultimate utility for WordPress,” is a popular plugin that includes security features such as protection against brute force attacks:
Hackers use brute force attacks to attempt a variety of login credentials until they locate one that works. They may even make your information public so that others can use it in their own assaults.
Many hackers use bots to automate their brute force attacks. This means fraudsters can quickly test your e-commerce dashboard with hundreds, if not thousands, of different passwords.
Over the course of a site’s existence, Jetpack automatically stops 5,193 brute force assaults by screening out traffic from bad IP addresses. If you built your store with WooCommerce, you should have been prompted to install Jetpack as part of the initial setup. You may also install it via your dashboard’s Plugins > Add New screen.
4. Keep an eye on your e-commerce site for any downtime.
It’s critical that your site has no downtime over the holiday season in order to optimize your earnings. Any downtime is bad for business, but it could also mean your e-commerce company is being targeted. Brute force and DDoS attacks, for example, frequently take down websites.
It’s impractical to manually monitor your e-commerce store 24 hours a day, seven days a week, especially during busy buying seasons. However, you can’t afford to lose sales because of unanticipated downtime.
You may use a tool like ManageWP’s Uptime Monitor to keep track of your website’s downtime. It will ping your website on a regular basis, anywhere from once every 15 minutes to once per minute:
Uptime Monitor can send you an email, Slack message, or SMS if your website is down (based on your preferences). You can then take the required actions to address the problem, reopen your store, and continue to generate holiday money.
It’s critical that your site has no downtime over the holiday season in order to optimize your earnings. Any downtime is bad for business, but it could also mean your e-commerce company is being targeted. Brute force and DDoS attacks, for example, frequently take down websites.
It’s impractical to manually monitor your e-commerce store 24 hours a day, seven days a week, especially during busy buying seasons. However, you can’t afford to lose sales because of unanticipated downtime.
You may use a tool like ManageWP’s Uptime Monitor to keep track of your website’s downtime. It will ping your website on a regular basis, anywhere from once every 15 minutes to once per minute:
Uptime Monitor can send you an email, Slack message, or SMS if your website is down (based on your preferences). You can then take the required actions to address the problem, reopen your store, and continue to generate holiday money.
5. Use plugins and themes with caution.
Plugins and themes are essential for establishing an online store that looks and works exactly the way you want it to. They can, however, put your e-commerce site at risk. Plugins were responsible for 97.2 percent of WordPress vulnerabilities in 2019.
It’s critical to only download plugins and themes from trusted sources if you want to use them safely. It’s also critical that you to pay attention to customer reviews, especially the most recent ones.
Additionally, themes and plugins introduce code to your site that hackers could possibly exploit. It’s critical to remove any themes or plugins that you don’t use anymore to reduce the risk.
According to WPBeginner, an outdated plugin, theme, or WordPress version causes 86 percent of sites to be hacked. We recommend updating new versions of your themes and plugins automatically to keep them up to date.
You can update all of your site components using ManageWP’s Safe Updates without having to worry about downtime at the busiest season of the year:
If an issue occurs, ManageWP will automatically undo the changes. This ensures that you can keep your themes and plugins up to date without having to worry about errors or other issues.
6. Install an SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) certificate.
You’ll send sensitive consumer payment information on a regular basis if you run a successful e-commerce shop. To safeguard your consumers from fraud, use a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificate to encrypt their credit, debit, and bank information.
You may encrypt all sensitive data and user activity, including transactions, on your WordPress website by installing an SSL certificate. This is vital from a legal standpoint, but it also gives your website a more trustworthy appearance.
When a website uses an SSL certificate, several modern browsers display a padlock in the address bar:
When a potential consumer sees this padlock, they’ll feel more at ease sharing critical information with your store, such as payment information.
There’s also evidence that the possession of an SSL certificate could be a ranking factor for Google. This could help your e-commerce store get a lift in search engine optimization (SEO) and drive even more holiday visitors.
Final Thoughts
The holiday season is no longer the only busy time for e-commerce retailers, and this is giving plenty of motivation for cybercriminals. It’s critical to plan ahead if you want to keep your clients and your store secure.
Focus on these strategies when it comes to safeguarding your store:
- Create a strong, complex, and unique password for your WordPress dashboard.
- Activate two-factor authentication (two-factor authentication) for added security.
- For brute force attack defense, enable the Jetpack plugin.
- Using Uptime Monitor, you can keep track of your e-commerce store’s downtime.
- Use plugins and themes with caution, deleting any that are not essential to your website.
- An SSL certificate should always be installed.
Btw if you enjoyed this article you might want to READ about the 2021 Digital Marketing Stats!
Our hope is that these strategies have given you more confidence about the online security of your e-commerce store, however if you still have any concerns about the safety of your website, contact us here at Pushleads for a free consultation. We want to help!
Best of luck!
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