Anyone who conducts business online must face the fact that hackers will always want in, and e-commerce websites can be especially vulnerable. As a business owner, it is your job to ensure that your website and all transaction information stays safe at all times.
Unfortunately, this time of year – around the holidays – consumer information is especially vulnerable, with hackers on the hunt for credit card numbers, social security numbers, and more. So, how can you stop hackers from getting what they want, and keep your customers safe? Let’s take a look.
How to Stop Hackers From Harming Your eCommerce Store and Its Customers
- Don’t hold onto customer data you don’t need – Hackers can’t steal information that you don’t have, so simply don’t collect or save personal identification data that isn’t absolutely essential. For example, you don’t need to have credit card information on file. In fact, your business never even has to see it. Use encrypted checkout tunnels to eliminate the need for your own servers to ever see this information.
- Encrypt all communications – It’s important to encrypt all communications that have the potential to peak a hacker’s interest. If you don’t already, encrypt communications with business partners, credit card processors and even email. You never want to send potentially private information in plain text over the Internet, so don’t take any chances.
- Test for vulnerabilities – It’s important to conduct regular site checks and tests when dealing with an e-commerce site. Credit card companies already require this of retailers in order to meet certain security standards, but this alone is not enough. You need to conduct regular scans to ensure that hackers haven’t introduced malware into any part of your site. You also need to test your cybersecurity to see if there are any vulnerabilities in your site’s code. You should even look into the security of any apps that you’ve made available.
- Update risky software – Unfortunately, systems and software do run out of date and past their prime. It’s easy to just set up a website and think that that will be it as long as you’re in business, but the truth is that you should be updating and making improvements all the time as new technologies and practices are introduced. You’ll want to eliminate any software that jeopardizes online security. Safe, modern web development codes, like HTML 5, will help you rid your site of potential vulnerabilities from Java.
- Update SSL/TLS’s – Every e-commerce store needs to update their solution’s SSL/TLS (Secure Sockets Layer/Transport Security Layer) to encrypt browser communications. In other words, you need to encrypt communications between the website and browsers when transmitting confidential information. But, in order to prevent hackers from cracking the code, you need the latest versions of SSL or TLS for the most current encryption algorithms.
- Always, always verify information – Of course you want to trust your customers, but you must always verify information given. To do this, you can implement an address verification system (AVS), which asks customers to input the CVV (card verification value) number for all credit card transactions.
- Choose a reliable, professional hosting provider – As an e-commerce store, you must choose your hosting provider carefully. You want one who is just as much invested in your success as you are and can offer a wide range of tools, services and applications. Some key traits and elements of a great host include:
- The use of at least 128 bit AES encryption or better
- Performs regular backups
- Performs regular network monitoring
- Provides an emergency contact for security
- Keeps wide-ranging logs
Remember, at the end of the day, your customers are relying on you to both serve them and protect their vital, private information. Perhaps of equal importance is the fact that your business depends on this level of trust and security. If you’re concerned about any compenent of your company’s cybersecurity practices, contact us to schedule a consultation.
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