Complete eCommerce Security Handbook: Major Threats, Best Practices, and Fool-proof Tips

Updated 25 Oct 2023
Published 23 Oct 2023
Nancy Bhargava 1532 Views

Every day, we hear a new story about a cyber threat, such as a DDoS attack or phishing scam. This makes having an eCommerce security system in place more critical than ever.

Customers will abandon your website if they have the slightest suspicion that the financial information they enter during the checkout process is not handled with proper security. This will cause your business to decline and eventually collapse.

To earn the trust of your website’s users and thus boost traffic and revenue, we will go through eCommerce security best practices, threats, and tips.

The importance of eCommerce Security

We don’t say this lightly; the ability to secure online transactions is a must for online purchasing. It allows you to safeguard confidential and private data, protect company funds, and prevent fraud and other financial scams.

One of the most significant advantages of implementing security measures for eCommerce is that it puts you in a better position to gain your customers’ trust.

Customers are more comfortable making purchases from your business since you are taking the necessary security measures to safeguard the private data you obtain about them.

Security measures safeguard the integrity and privacy of users. Customers can feel secure knowing that no online information will be used without their knowledge or consent.

SSL certificates that encrypt sensitive data before transmission over the internet can be obtained. This makes it more likely that the information will reach its intended audience.

This must be done as it guarantees that many computers process shared data before being transferred to the intended server.

More than any other, the financial benefits of eCommerce security are easily seen. Data breaches damage your website’s reputation, and any negative impact on that reputation has a knock-on effect on your business’s finances, eventually leading to lower sales.

If your loyal customers feel that their sensitive data and personal information need to be correctly protected from unwanted access, they won’t even recommend your store to their friends.

A recent study’s findings indicate that cyber criminals mainly target the eCommerce sector, with bots responsible for 57% of all attacks on eCommerce websites in 2021. Being careless is not an option when it comes to protecting online transactions.

Always discover top-notch eCommerce security services to safeguard your online store, ensuring a safe and secure shopping experience for your customers.

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eCommerce Security Threats

Despite many cyberattacks, those targeting eCommerce sites usually try to steal passwords and customer data (personal or financial) or disrupt operations to profit financially.

eCommerce challenges, however, also involve a range of financial frauds that threat actors and private citizens can commit. These frauds come in a variety of shapes and sizes.

The most common e-commerce security threats are as follows:

  • The Financial Sector’s Fraud

Any dishonesty used during a transaction to gain financial or personal advantage is considered fraud in electronic commerce, payments, and finance.

The use of credit cards that have been stolen is a common component of credit card fraud.

Cybercriminals make illegal purchases after accessing a user’s account and doing illicit activities.

False requests for refunds and returns with several harmful intentions, including trying to exchange cash for stolen products, starting a return without returning the item, or lying to a credit card company to dispute a legitimately completed transaction (chargeback fraud).

  • Phishing

Phishing attacks trick victims into disclosing private information (usually login passwords) or downloading malware or viruses that inadvertently break into networks and steal data. These attacks typically occur over email but can also happen over the phone or in text messages.

  • Social Engineering Method

A generic term describing the practice of using some trickery or manipulation to persuade someone to do something (such as clicking a link in an email or commenting on a blog post) or divulging personal information.

Targets include both employees and actual customers (usually by posing as the company’s representatives) in an attempt to enter their computer networks.

  • DDoS Attacks

Large amounts of bandwidth are sent out by these dedicated denial of service assaults (DDoS), making an eCommerce website sluggish and challenging to use. These attacks could be carried out by attackers seeking financial gain (blackmail) or to damage their reputation.

  • SQL Injections

A code injection called SQL injection injects code into a SQL database to delete or steal data from it.

  • Cross-Site Scripting

To gather user data, threat actors insert malicious scripts into the browser’s source code, which run on the client side.

  • Malware

Malware is software designed to attack websites intending to steal information, send spam from your domain, or facilitate lateral behaviour that could access other data areas.

How can you secure your eCommerce store?

Understanding that an eCommerce website has different needs than a regular website is the first step towards securing your eCommerce website. eCommerce websites hold more valuable data that hackers can use for fraudulent transactions or resell on the dark web.

Examples of this type of data include inventory, pricing, supply chain data, and sensitive user information, including usernames and passwords, contact details, and financial information. Supply chain, price, and inventory data are a few examples of this type of information.

#1 Select a Secure Online Store or Shopping Cart

The top eCommerce platform providers have proven their versatility in supporting various business models and sectors and their ability to provide security, scalability, and performance. A list of some of the most well-known safe online shopping systems may be found below:

#2 WordPress

With a 23.43% market share, WooCommerce is the second most popular eCommerce platform. This free plugin is made for WordPress to help small-to, large-scale retailers with some technical know-how—wooCommerce functions as a platform built on WordPress.

#3 Shopify

Shopify, known for being one of the simplest eCommerce platforms to set up and use, has grown to be a significant force in the worldwide eCommerce business. It offers a wide range of tools and plugins to facilitate customization.

Shopify offers incredible features to offer businesses of all sizes

#4 BigCommerce

Thanks to its inventory management capabilities and support for omnichannel and cross-channel selling, BigCommerce has gained popularity as a platform for large businesses expanding quickly.

#5 Switch over to HTTPS

Nowadays, most clients know the difference between HTTP:// and http:// and know that a legitimate business that values security would have a website with a padlock and a “s” in the URL.

A website that has received a security certificate is known as HTTPS. By encrypting critical data during transmission over a connection and using SSL/TLS protocols for user authentication, this certificate attests to the HTTPS website’s security.

#6 Choose a Secure Host for Your eCommerce Website

Numerous eCommerce platforms provide hosting services for clients using off-site solutions like Google Cloud or Amazon Web Services.

Specialized web hosting does, though, also provide eCommerce features in their packages. These features include data support, email services, caching, automated backups, shopping cart software, and payment processing.

Seek out a web hosting provider that provides the following capabilities:

  • Use SSL certificates
  • Defense against DDoS assaults
  • Keeping domain names private
  • Adherence to PCI
  • Employing firewalls
  • Spam-blocking filters
  • Finding and getting rid of viruses and other harmful software

#7 Secure your admin

Administrator privilege refers to administrators’ access to restricted locations, like the database or the controls on the eCommerce website itself. To ensure the safety of these crucial servers and administration panels, take into account the following:

  • Changing the administration section’s default
  • Adjust the administrator’s default username and password.
  • Credentials should be issued to people instead of granting them general access.
  • Restricting access to the administrative area while maintaining access for users whose IP addresses are known.

#8 Schedule recurring data backups.

Staying connected with your consumers and their purchase history is essential for preventing disruptions, not just security breaches. Backups are the most obvious answer, but eCommerce companies must rely on something other than web servers to take care of this.

The options are either an automated backup solution, which backs up any new changes in real-time and ideally runs the backup process on a different server to prevent performance disruption, or a manual backup solution, which is time-consuming. There are two possible answers.

#9 Techniques for Gathering Information

While it may be tempting to collect as much data as you can about your customers to help guide future marketing initiatives, several privacy regulations have made it apparent that data should only be limited to what is required.

It is nevertheless enticing to learn as much as you can about your clients, despite this. Furthermore, these same regulations stipulate that consumers have the right to access and know what data is being collected and the right to seek its removal (sometimes referred to as “the right to be forgotten”).

#10 Sturdy Authentication Techniques and Access Controls

All company users need to be aware of authentication, which is figuring out whether someone is who they say they are. However, those with access to privileged data or systems must know this.

Determining the degree of privilege is also essential, particularly in larger organizations. This means that each account should be limited to accessing the systems, programs, or documents needed for that particular role and nothing else.

Two-factor authentication (2FA) and multi-factor authentication (MFA) require more than one step in validating that a person is who they claim to be because of the inherent weakness in password usage.

Users must provide a combination of factors, such as something they know (like a password), something they have (like a one-time passcode), or something they are (like biometric data), to perform two-factor authentication (2FA) and multi-factor authentication (MFA).

#11 It should be mandatory for customers to have strong passwords

Using complex passwords is the first step towards enhancing password hygiene and increasing access to your eCommerce website. We could mandate complex passwords from users.

However, passwords remain an unsafe authentication method, making it easy for the threats we previously outlined to take advantage of them. Installing multi-factor authentication (MFA) or two-factor authentication (FFA) is therefore highly advised for internal employees and external clients.

#12 Put Security Measures into your Website

To reduce the number of brute-force assaults that are made against the website, a limit on the number of times a user may try to log in must be implemented.

This could be an option built into the eCommerce platform itself, as a plugin, or as a service offered by an outside company.

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Quick Tips for Improving eCommerce Security

Creating a safe shopping environment for clients is a continuous process. Consistent routine inspection and website maintenance procedures and extra checks related to platform patches, code alterations, and plugin updates are necessary.

Here are some tips to increase the security of your website that you can do right now:

1- Information related to credit or debit cards should not be stored.

Nothing can replace common sense with the old-fashioned kind, even though office-ticketed eCommerce security and inclusivity policies and technologies are important.

You may prevent the most straightforward method of information leakage by not storing credit or debit card information. While storing credit card numbers and customer names can expedite the payment process, keeping them on online-accessible servers is unnecessary. Furthermore, storing such sensitive data is against PCI data storage requirements.

Not only would losing this information damage your online store’s reputation, but it would also endanger other businesses and financial institutions.

Moreover, you can choose to use payment platforms like Stripe and PayPal. This action transfers the responsibility to the platforms, and you can rest easy knowing that your transactions will be safer than they would be with traditional eCommerce thanks to their sophisticated security procedures.

2- Select a Reputable Website Builder and Web Host for Your Online Business:

Invest in an eCommerce website builder that is reliable and provides the best possible data protection for your customer’s data as well as the data on your website.

You have a few alternatives to choose from regarding eCommerce platforms, and most of them include built-in security measures. However, not all of them do. Choose a business that can function as a web host and a secure platform.

Get an SSL certificate and look for service providers with integrated security features and benefits. All data exchanged between the user’s web browser and your website will be encrypted, rendering it unintelligible to anybody but you and the user.

It won’t be seen by anyone else. All online retailers that accept credit cards must have SSL certification by the Data Security Standard set forth by the PCI, or Payment Card Industry.

3- Perform SQL Checks Frequently

Any form on the website that requests user input is vulnerable to SQL injection. It would help to run regular scans to address these vulnerabilities and guarantee your website’s security.

Many software tools can allow you to monitor and defend your website from injections; which ones you have access to depends on the eCommerce platform you use.

The duties performed by free website scanners are identical to those of their commercial versions; nevertheless, you should only download software from reputable sources and read reviews.

Whatever eCommerce security solution you choose, always run daily security checks on the website. This action will help you find and address any vulnerabilities in your system before anyone else does and opts to benefit from them.

Read Also: How to Start an E-Commerce Business?

eCommerce Security: Long-term Measures

Here are some of the intricate strategies in this section to help you bolster the security of your online storefront.

Measures to Take for eCommerce Security

1- Limited login attempts:

The pages where visitors log in to websites are often the target of cybercriminals. Frequently, they employ brute-force attacks to attempt to guess your login credentials and gain unauthorized access to your site. Consequently, if you provide them with infinite opportunities to attempt to log in, they will eventually succeed in their goals.

If you limit how many times a customer can attempt to login to your online platform, you will be able to prevent falling victim to one of these attacks.

If users fail to input the correct password, enable them to choose the ‘Forgot password’ option to reset their password.

This will stop hackers and bots from guessing credentials, which usually involves multiple attempts.

2- Change the Security Keys:

Encrypt and save all login credentials to facilitate purchasers’ login processes. In this manner, even if a cybercriminal manages to obtain access, they cannot understand the data.

If you are using WordPress, you are undoubtedly aware that the platform uses security keys (such as random variables including admin panel password and username) and salts, which help further strengthen data encryption.

It suggests that an attacker can decode all of your data and access your account if they manage to obtain your security salts and keys. The best action is to frequently replace old salts and security keys to avoid finding yourself in this situation.

3- It should be mandatory for customers to have strong passwords:

There are a lot of users that contribute to the upkeep and administration of the website. Because they are aware of this, hackers use techniques like brute-force attacks to attempt to determine login credentials.

Hackers will be much easier to access and look for your users’ accounts if they select short and uncomplicated passwords.

To prevent hackers from employing brute-force attacks, require users (including customers) to create robust passwords adhering to best practices.

You can only reach out to some customers and inform them of the value of website security. On the other hand, you can implement the security standards directly on the website by asking users to choose a secure password during the account creation process.

Verify that the password complies with all requirements, including using capital and lowercase letters, having a minimum number of characters, and combining numbers and symbols.

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4- Take back-ups:

Maintaining your data’s security is vital to your eCommerce site’s functioning. You must implement this safety measure to avoid losing client information.

Many eCommerce businesses rely on their web servers’ backup capabilities, while some handle things themselves. The issue is that these techniques must be designed with eCommerce websites in mind; manual backups take a lot of time to complete, and web hosting companies only carry out daily backups.

You will require an approach that can be set up to produce backups of your website whenever changes are made automatically. The most labour- and time-efficient way to make data backups is to use a plugin on your eCommerce website.

5- Spread awareness about eCommerce security:

You must ensure that your client’s data is protected. You can implement standard eCommerce security measures like two-factor authentication (2FA) and substantial password requirements, even though you can’t continually monitor your customers’ activity or instruct them in setting up safe accounts. You can, though, add additional standard online eCommerce security measures.

Users with accounts dealing with confidential data benefit significantly from the extra security that two-factor authentication (2FA) provides. It keeps other users from being able to access your account unless they physically possess your smartphone and know your login details.

Even though two-factor authentication (2FA) might seem overkill for eCommerce sites, it shields all your clients from the risk of cyberattacks.

Explore the challenges and solutions related to eCommerce security issues in our informative article, ensuring your online business stays protected.

At times, you will feel that you can handle your eCommerce website security on your own or that you can ask your eCommerce web developer to help you out, but you should know that it will not be easy. It will be best that you look for a reliable eCommerce partner to help you with security issues.

Nancy Bhargava

Nancy works as an IT consulting professional with Arka Softwares. She has an in-depth knowledge of trending tech and consumer affairs. She loves to put her observations and insights of the industry to reveal interesting stories prompting the latest domain practice and trends.

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