ecommerce security

Ecommerce Security: What You Need To Know

Website Security

Welcome to the modern Age of Information, in which technology and the Internet rule over our lives every day. It seems as though we always have our phone in our hand or are at a computer.

As a business owner or manager, you know how important it is to protect your assets. In order for you to maintain credibility with your customers, you need to consider digital information a significant asset to your business. That means your data and your ecommerce site must be protected.

Running the risk of eCommerce security issues is not worth the trouble. You will surely lose valuable customers are your business’s reputation. Make sure you take good care to protect your customers’ and your business’s information.

Cybersecurity threats are serious matters. The good news is that this article will tell you everything you need to know about taking proper security measures.

Why eCommerce Security Is Important for Your Business

You have a successful product or service that people need. Customers are willing to pay you for your business, and you need to be willing to make that transaction as seamless as possible.

Your customers are trusting your site with sensitive, critical digital information about their assets and their lives. Every time they enter their information to process a payment for your merchandise or services, they are taking a risk. Make sure they can trust you with that risk, and they will keep coming back to you.

The industry of eCommerce continues to grow, so you also simply want to make sure you don’t get left behind. The digital marketplace is thriving, and you need to maintain a credible presence to maintain your profits.

In fact, 37% of young shoppers prefer to do their shopping online instead of in person. Clearly, you would be missing out on a wide spectrum of potential customers if, for whatever reason, your eCommerce site is not available or trusted.

Ransomware

One cybersecurity issue that could threaten your business or your customers is called ransomware. This threat usually begins in the form of an email sent to an employee or yourself at your business. The recipient, upon opening the email, might be baited into clicking a link that will trigger the virus.

This virus is a dangerous software that essentially holds your entire network and website hostage until a certain amount of money is paid (hence the term, “ransomware”). The business then usually has to pay that money as soon as possible.

Your customers will definitely notice if your eCommerce site is down, and they might start to lose trust in your business. They want to be able to shop online, and they want to be able to shop for your products or services online.

Studies show that 73% of mobile shoppers shop online because it saves them time. If you continue to have security issues or improperly maintained eCommerce functions, they might start to lose interest.

The good news is that there is insurance available for your business to purchase in case this threat becomes a reality. In fact, cybersecurity insurance is probably a good idea for many reasons.

To take a more preventative measure than insurance, though, it might be more worthwhile if you invest in proper security measures for your eCommerce business. Doing so before it’s too late will save your business from a lot of headaches and loss of profits.

Phishing

As mentioned above, your customers are trusting you with their personal financial information.

That data, in the hands of the wrong person, has the potential to severely threaten a family’s financial stability. You don’t want to be responsible for something like that simply because they made a purchase on your eCommerce site.

Phishing is a form of cybersecurity threat that seeks to steal personal information. A lot of times, these virus’s take the form of a company or individual who appears very trustworthy. Then, messages will be sent to one of your unsuspecting employees who share the wrong thing at the wrong time.

Make sure you establish updated eCommerce security prevention tactics in order to avoid something like phishing. You don’t want to lose loyal customers simply because you weren’t willing to properly invest.

Bots Targeting eCommerce

You have probably heard of the elusive “bots” that are swarming around the digital world. These programs are designed to act as fake humans in order to cheat the system in one way or another.

Not all bots are harmful, but some are known to specifically target eCommerce sites. People know that these sites transfer a lot of important, sensitive information about finance and other valuable data. The more malicious ones will use bots to automatically attempt to steal that information.

Some of these bots are pretty clever, too. They have been known to buy up all of a site’s products that are a limited release, just in order to resell it at a higher price. The best cybersecurity software is able to detect these bots and prevent them from interrupting your business operations.

Keep Your Server and Website Maintained

Properly investing in cybersecurity measures means properly investing in your website and server themselves. If you don’t have a functional, engaging website, customers might not value your brand. If your server has a hard time keeping up with all of your eCommerce transactions, your site might lose valuable uptime.

Make sure you stay on top of your site’s and server’s maintenance needs. Here are some things you and your employees can continue to do to keep up with those needs.

Continue Monitoring

After reading this article, you should feel pretty confident in the benefits of eCommerce security measures. The cost of cybersecurity threats or improperly functioning eCommerce transaction can be too high for comfort. Unfortunately, those threats will never really go away.

That’s why it’s important to continue cybersecurity research, protect yourself from hackers, and stay updated on recent security trends. We know how important it is to have high-functioning and secure eCommerce for your business. Check out our article on why and how you should continue monitoring your eCommerce site.