eCommerce websites will always be a popular target for cybercriminals. They are treasure troves of personal and financial information for would-be thieves. A breach can be extremely costly for businesses of all sizes, both in terms of data loss and customer trust.
eCommerce owners are well aware of these issues and are beefing up their digital security measures. According to the VMWare Carbon Black 2020 Cybersecurity Outlook Report, 77 percent of businesses surveyed purchased new security products in the previous year, and 69 percent increased security staff.
In this never-ending cat-and-mouse game, as online retailers add increasingly innovative technologies to their websites to stay competitive, cyber attackers are honing their skills and discovering new vulnerabilities to exploit. The best way to stay ahead is to understand the importance of eCommerce digital security. #TWN
eCommerce websites have long been one of the most common targets of cybercrime. When a company's security is breached, it results in data loss and erodes the trust that could have been built over time.
And here's a sobering statistic: eCommerce websites were the target of 32.4 percent of successful cyberattacks in 2018.
As a result, it's become critical for serious businesses to implement a vigorous eCommerce digital security protocol and measures to protect the company and its customers from online attacks.
This constant attacking and defending is a never-ending game of cat and mouse. Online retailers are constantly adding layers of technology to secure transactions in this game.
At the same time, cyber attackers are putting in extra effort to find new loopholes.
The best way to proceed is to thoroughly understand digital security and why it is so important for eCommerce.
We will provide you with enough information in this article to ensure that you have a thorough understanding. Furthermore, we'll look at some of the most profound eCommerce security threats, as well as some measures to protect you even when you're not online. So, without further ado, let's get started.
In layman's terms, eCommerce digital security is a set of rules.
These guidelines work to ensure that all internet transactions are secure.
Users who sell and buy goods and services online are protected by several protocols included in these guidelines.
To gain the trust of customers in the long run, any eCommerce business must have basic security in place.
Privacy, Integrity, Authentication, and Non-repudiation are examples of fundamental security. Taking care of these four pillars is just as important for an eCommerce business as having a secure WiFi connection.
Privacy refers to the prevention of all activities that result in the sharing of customer data with unauthorized third parties. In the eCommerce business, you must ensure that customer data and account information are only shared between the retailer and the customer, with no third parties involved.
When sellers allow others access to private data, they are usually held accountable for the breach of confidentiality. It is your responsibility as an online business to enable at least a bare minimum of firewall, anti-virus, encryption, or other data protection. It will assist you in assuring your customers that their credit card and payment information is secure with you.
It is also an important security concept in eCommerce. Integrity entails ensuring that any information shared by customers on the internet remains unchanged. According to this principle, the customer's information should be used only for the purpose for which it was provided.
If you make even minor changes to the data entered by the customer, they will begin to lose trust in the security and integrity of your company.
The authentication principle exists to ensure that both the buyer and seller are legitimate. They must be who they say they are. Businesses that sell a product must demonstrate the legitimacy of their existence, the quality of their product, and their ability to deliver on their promises.
The same is true for the opposing party. Customers must also prove their identity for the seller to feel confident about the transaction. Many eCommerce businesses use authentication and identification, so we know it is a practical approach.
The term 'repudiation' refers to denial. The non-repudiation principle, as the name implies, ensures that neither party can deny the actions they have taken throughout a transaction.
Both the seller and the customer should complete the transactions they started. Because of the virtual nature of transactions, many people believe eCommerce is less secure. In this case, the non-repudiation principle serves as an additional layer of protection.
The eCommerce industry has grown significantly in recent years, thanks to an increase in online transactions.
Threats and invasions from malicious actors, on the other hand, have increased. When it comes to digital attacks, eCommerce is one of the most vulnerable industries.
Because digital security has a significant impact on the eCommerce industry, here are six reasons why it is so important for eCommerce success.
Customer retention is one of the top priorities for any business, and it is not as simple as many people believe.
It takes a unique approach to ensure that customers who make a purchase once are interested in making another.
A repeat customer who purchases the product and services is fully invested in the company. Similarly, the company should be invested in the customer.
It is critical to establish a foundation of trust to reduce churn. To build trust, you must be open and honest about your data collection methods and procedures.
Consumers also expect to be able to contact your company whenever they need to, as well as receive personalized support for a smooth customer journey.
You must take the required steps and communicate the protocols. Furthermore, you can make your customers feel more secure by creating a publicly accessible document that describes the safeguards you are putting in place to protect them.
Making data privacy a priority will enable you to turn your customers into brand ambassadors for your services and products.
Using various surveys and feedback forms, you can ask customers how they feel about the current privacy policy.
To manage the eCommerce business, your workforce must include skilled, responsible, and result-oriented individuals.
To assist your customers and provide promising business continuity, you'll need a diverse and knowledgeable team from various backgrounds and with unique talents.
Assume you want to maintain a high level of efficiency and perform tasks to the best of your ability. In that case, you'll have to give your employees limited access to your customer database.
It can include information from support tickets, demographics, internal documents, financial statements, and a variety of other sources.
You cannot, however, give everyone access to this information. You must restrict access to it from those who should not see it.
By requiring users to verify their credentials, you can reduce the risk of your confidential and valuable data being misused while also ensuring that database resources are used appropriately.
UX design and easy navigation are critical in impressing a consumer and determining how they perceive your brand.
User-friendly and visually appealing websites go a long way toward attracting customers and making it easy to browse content and products.
Poorly designed sites, on the other hand, may cause your customer to abandon the site and never return.
Customers may not want to interact with your eCommerce site if your data collection notifications are unclear, resulting in a sales shortage.
Customers will not be bombarded with requests to accept cookies, user agreements, and complex data disclosure forms on a digitally secured site. Such policies undermine your site's credibility and make it appear less secure.
It is critical to ensure that all forms are neatly presented so that customers are not intimidated.
A good user experience and design can increase user satisfaction and, more importantly, make them feel safer.
Training employees to recognize threats and assess their seriousness is critical to the success of any eCommerce business.
When your employees are properly educated on best practices, they can serve as the front line in preventing hackers and viruses from infiltrating the enterprise.
Phishing agents send emails to a large number of corporate email addresses all at once. These emails may appear legitimate at first glance because they address employees by their correct names and use relevant subject lines to entice them to open them.
When they open the email, virus-infected downloadable attachments can enter their system and compromise their data.
These agents, however, are not complete professionals, which is why they leave distinct signs that you can identify. Downloading content from an unknown source should be avoided.
Companies are updating their software to improve functionality and enable systems to complete required tasks.
The majority of the updates include critical security enhancements. It can remove bugs, which speeds up the process.
The updates can accumulate over time, so you must keep an eye out for them. You should also update your eCommerce site and application to eliminate bugs and provide a better experience for your customers.
Everything will run smoothly if security is woven into eCommerce optimization.
Another digital security threat for eCommerce businesses is ransomware, a type of malware that encrypts a company's data.
The data or system can only be unlocked in exchange for a substantial sum of money. Any data you have stored on your system may be vulnerable to ransomware.
Not only can your device be compromised, but there have also been reports of ransomware attacks on cloud storage.
However, many people still believe that cloud storage is a safer option, and more and more businesses are using it.
The only way of protecting yourself from this type of attack is by being prepared for it. And how do you do it?
You can prepare by creating multiple backups of your important files. It should not be limited to cloud services but should also be done locally and on portable storage devices.
As an eCommerce business, you may be subjected to a variety of digital attacks. And it's impossible to cover even half of them in this blog post.
However, some attacks are becoming more common, and everyone should be aware of them. Let's take a look at what they are.
Attackers use this type of social engineering method to trick victims into offering personal and confidential information such as accounts, passwords, social security numbers, and much more. It is usually done via email, phone calls, or text messages.
Phishing is the most evolving type of digital security threat. This data privacy attack in eCommerce can be devastating to both businesses and customers.
There are various types of phishing as well, but we won't go into that here. Phishing can harm a brand's reputation if it is not properly identified.
If your website contains malware or ransomware, your customers' devices may become infected, locking them out of their system and important data.
When your customers have a bad experience like this, they are unlikely to return to your website.
Even your server can become infected, resulting in significant downtime. Downtime costs money in any business, let alone eCommerce. However, by performing regular site checks and maintenance, you can avoid a situation like this.
It is a type of cyber-attack in which hackers use SQL (Structured Query Language) code to manipulate a database and gain access to sensitive information.
It is one of the most common types of attacks on the internet, and attackers can use it to target any web application or website that uses a SQL-based database. Because most eCommerce sites use SQL, they are extremely vulnerable to this attack.
Several malicious scripts are infused into benign and trusted websites in cross-site scripting (XSS).
A side script is used when an attacker uses a web application to inject malicious code into different end-users.
XSS allows an attacker to send a malicious script to an unwitting user. The end-user will never know what is in the script, and when it is run, it will cause the harm intended.
Final Words
eCommerce digital security is a process that necessitates frequent checks and eagle eyes to detect fraud.
In this day and age of severe cyberattacks, digital security cannot be compromised. Customers will feel more secure when making purchases and transactions through your online store if you take precautions to prevent it.
The reasons listed above should be sufficient for your eCommerce company to begin working on digital security.