The impact of weak password security can have a significant impact on growing ecommerce businesses, according to David Smith, Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) specialising in Network and IoT Security, as he shares his insight with Payment Expert.
Ecommerce has provided limitless opportunities to small and medium sized businesses for increasing sales. However, as the Ecommerce industry grows, so do the concerns of privacy and security. With more users choosing online shopping, online fraud and cyber crime have also reached an all-time high. A data breach can result in not only loss of important data but also result in financial losses and disgruntled customers.
The following safety measures can help businesses protect themselves, and their customers, against cyber threats and ensure safe transactions:
- Prioritise Password Security
The password “123456” consistently comes first on the list of top 10 most common passwords of the year. This indicates that many users are still not aware of the importance of keeping a strong password to avoid getting hacked. Ensure that your customers can only keep a password that follows best practices such as:
- Using alphanumeric digits, uppercase and lowercase letters, and special characters in the password to make the password more complex.
- Avoiding keeping the same password for multiple accounts.
- Keeping a password of at least 8 characters.
- Updating password after every few months.
- Limiting login attempts to prevent a potential hacker from guessing a password and locking an account for a certain time after failed attempts.
- Storing all passwords in an encrypted format to make it difficult for hackers to intercept.
- Get SSL Certificate
A Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificate allows businesses to enable the Hyper Text Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS). This means that by buying the SSL certificate and enabling it, your website acquires online protocol to securely communicate over the internet and protect against ecommerce fraud. It also ensures safe transaction with bank cards where users’ personal financial information, such as credit card details, cannot be intercepted by hackers. It also indicates that the website is authentic and users can trust it for online transactions.
- Choose a Secure Ecommerce Service Provider
Businesses often choose ecommerce service providers for their ease of store-building, functionality, and designs. In addition, it is also important to keep security features in mind. When choosing an ecommerce solution, look for one that provides SSL certificates, encrypted payment gateways and authentication protocols for buyers and sellers.
- Take Regular Backups
Taking regular backups can protect your site from any security issues or corrupted database. The timing of backups depends upon the frequency of new content and design updates on your website. Although many hosting providers allow automatic backups, it is still important to regularly download copies of your files and website database. This helps ensure that you don’t lose important data in an unforeseen disaster and don’t have to create everything from scratch.
- Enable Two-Factor Authentication
Two-Factor Authentication or 2FA authenticates a user to log in only after answering a security question, entering a One-Time Password (OTP) generated on another device, or using their fingerprint – in addition to entering the regular password. This ensures that even if an attacker is successful in breaking a customer’s password, they can still not log in unless they successfully provide the second authentication factor. Setting up 2FA is a great strategy to block cyber threats and strengthen ecommerce security.
- Update Website Regularly
As web developers release security updates to launch fixes and patch vulnerabilities, it is important to update your commerce platform to prevent attackers from taking leverage of those vulnerabilities. It is also important to monitor and update website themes and plugins. Better is to turn on automatic updates as not only does it save a lot of time, it also ensures that your website is updated as soon as a new patch or plugin is available.
- Use Secure Payment Gateways
A payment gateway automates the ecommerce transaction process by authorising the transaction, collecting the settlement, and depositing money to your account. Choose a payment gateway that follows security measures to protect transactions, including:
- Data encryption by using a public key to encrypt the payment details of a customer. The data can then only be decrypted with a private key and an algorithm to ensure that an unauthorized party cannot access the information.
- Secure Electronic Transaction (SET) to mask credit card details and ensuring safe transfer of the information. It also requires a digital signature for further confidentiality and security.
- Tokenization to replace credit card number with random characters and tracking the token with a decryption key. Even in case of a breach, a hacker cannot decipher the token.
Conclusion
It is vital to develop good ecommerce security practices if you want to make your online business successful. Ensuring good password hygiene of customers, encrypting data, enabling secure protocols, and regular updating and maintenance of your ecommerce platform can ensure that customers have a safe shopping experience when buying from your online store.
