Security must be one of your largest priorities when you manage an e-commerce site. Frauds and attacks Can put you off circuit so many that it is better to take any risk. Did you know that only 38 % Companies that have undergone a cyber attack managed to cope with it successfully? If you do not want your e-commerce site to be added to the statistics, read this article carefully. We are going to give you several tips to best secure your e-commerce site today.
What happens if you don't secure your e-commerce site?
Site security is the most important challenge for any owner of an electronic commerce site. Here are some “traps” in which computer hackers will want to bring you:
The sqli fault : Do you know that it is possible to submit a fraudulent SQL command to your site by inserting the order in a form of your website? It may be the form that your customers use to register for your newsletter by e-mail or to organize an initial consultation or demonstration. Be aware of it.
Brute force attacks : One of the current means of destroying the security of your e-commerce site is the attacks by brute force. This works by simply becoming the details required to access the administration section of your site. All that is required is a program to execute attempts to connection with different passwords and enough uninterrupted time to establish a connection.
Dos and ddos ​​attacks : A back attack (Denial of Service) is an attempt to close your online store flooded with undesirable traffic and making it inaccessible to normal users. A DDOS attack (Distributed Dos Attack) is made from several devices or a botnet. A botnet is a “gang” of computers infected with certain malware. The two malicious actions have the same objective: to bring down your e-commerce site.
If you do not want to undergo these increasingly common attacks on e-commerce sites, you should follow the following checklist:
Choose a secure host
Cyberattacks can be directed to your e-commerce site but may also target your host directly. For this reason, the first step in securing your e-commerce site is the choice of the platform that hosts it. You can choose a owner or open-source CMS. These are two very different solutions.
In terms of security, a owner CMS will generally take care of securing your website, while an open source CMS leaves you freedom to secure your site yourself. In any case, we recommend that you choose a well-known and renowned platform because it will have a larger community of developers working on it.
Install an SSL certificate
An SSL (Secure Socket Layer) certificate is an electronic certificate that allows you to protect sensitive data from your customers. It ensures that the data transferred between a website and its users is encrypted using encrypted algorithms. In 2022, and for some time now, this type of certificate is essential on all websites, not just e-commerce.
A website protected by an SSL certificate is easily identifiable by the small padlock icon next to the URL in your browser. This certificate is used to strengthen the security of your website, but it also makes it possible to ensure a certain level of confidence for your customers, especially when it comes to making purchases on your e-commerce site while guaranteeing the security of their data and transactions.
Use a secure payment gateway
The use of a third -party payment gateway is theOne of the best ways to protect your customers and your own business against fraud. By transporting transactions via another supplier, the processing of card holders and other customer information is managed by a third party and is not stored on your server and your website.
If you choose to develop and use your own personalized solution, you will probably be responsible for storing customer card holders on your website. You will have to encrypt all data and communications with the bank, and take all the necessary security measures To protect this information. This also means that your business must comply with a number of regulatory compliance requirements.
On the other hand, if you use a large and deemed payment gateway like Paypal or Stripe, you know that security has been covered. These large companies certainly have the resources and knowledge necessary to maintain secure payment systems. Some payment gateways even offer a Automated protection against fraud and a series of tools To help you manage payments, etc.
Use solid identification information and activate 2FA
Most people know that it is necessary to use unique and difficult to guess passwords for each account you have online. However, most people do not follow these good known good practices in terms of password safety. If you manage an online store, you cannot afford this luxury.
From the start, We recommend that you activate two -factor authentication (2FA). You must also impose the use of strong passwords for all members of your team, since they can have access to sensitive commercial information and card holders.
Use a password manager, Who is the best way to generate and store unique and secure passwords for all your accounts. The post-it on the era of monitors is indeed over!
Regarding customers, it can be difficult to impose the use of secure passwords. However, this does not mean that you should not make any effort and inform them of the safety of passwords when registering. There are also ways to apply strong passwords for electronic commerce stores without dissuading customers. This is particularly important if you use a payment processor that stores the details of the credit card accessible from customer accounts.
Make regular updates
In the same way that pirates constantly develop new techniques to find safety flaws, CMS, plugins and other tools constantly improve the safety of these tools.
For this reason, platforms, software, plugins, etc. are regularly updated to correct bugs and improve user safety. However, these updates are not always automatic. It is therefore important to check regularly that all your tools are updated and, if not, to update your CMS, your software and your plugins to make sure they are always secure and are not obsolete.
Choose the plugins of your e-commerce site carefully
The majority of CMS offer the possibility of installing plugins from your e-commerce site to add features.
We recommend that you Check the reliability of the plugins before to install them. To do this, look for the date and reputation of the plugins, their Compatibility with your CMS and the frequency of update of plugins. This will guarantee that you can trust the reliability of the plugins you install in order to mitigate any bugs.
Download the printable checklist
7 good practices to secure a Prestashop site