An Ultimate Guide To Keep Customer Data Secure And Online Store Safe

What Are the Red Flags of Fraudulent Transactions?

Now coming to part, what are warning signs of fraudulent transactions. If you look for red flags you will find many. Some of them are:

• If the buyer’s shipping address, IP address, and billing address doesn’t match then this is a sign of something fishy happening.
• If a new customer is ordering a large volume of orders without enquiring about the product then you need to cross-check it.
• If the person tries various expiration dates after the first decline then this is a sign of fraudulent transactions.

These are some of the prevalent fraudulent transactions.

Why Data Privacy and Security Are Necessity for eCommerce Store?

We all have witnessed security breaches in the year 2015. According to the reports cyber breaches have resulted in the loss of half a billion personal documents.

The threat of online fraud, whaling, and ransomware is much more severe than we can imagine. They also influenced how we conduct business, undertake banking transactions, and even engage with one another.

Although starting an online company is relatively easy, keeping it secure against hacking, malware, or other cyber threats is indeed a daunting procedure. Many online business owners are living in a nightmare because they are out of options on how to keep their store safe. Customers tend to do business with a company they can trust. They expect their personal information, such as their credit card details and other bank account information, to be well secured when they type it into a form on your web.

This is a reason why it is important to have data privacy and security for any ecommerce store. Not only will it keep the store safe but also builds trust among customers. It is necessary to ensure that all consumer data is managed appropriately and efficiently as an e-commerce company owner. E-commerce protection is a complicated subject, but it is the duty of store owners to keep the website safe from hackers and confidential consumer information from being stolen.

What are the Potential e-commerce security Threats?

Most people are unable to diagnose the problem until the damage is done, it is because they are not aware of the threats. It is important to know the security threats to fight them. Below we are going to cast light on some of the prominent e-commerce security threats.

1. Cross-site Scripting :-When a hacker injects malicious code into the company’s website, this is known as Cross-site Scripting. Visitors to the website are subjected to ransomware, phishing, and other techniques to steal their information. To improve data protection, try using the HTTP Content Security Policy.

2. E-skimming :-When hackers gain access to your e-commerce shop through phishing, Cross-site scripting, or other methods, they wait for buyers to arrive at the payment page so they can swipe their credit cards and collect sensitive information. As hackers e-skim the credit card processing sites, they’re after all of the details on those pages. The government advises keeping your applications up to date, updating all login credentials to secure passwords, introducing multi-factor authentication, and segmenting and separating networks and functions to secure the website’s payment page.

3. Malware and Ransomware :-Stop clicking on unfamiliar links or installing applications, since these are typical entry points for ransomware and another network- and device-infecting software. Hackers may prevent you from collecting information on your server after it has been compromised, and they can expect money to recover your connection. Another precaution you should take to stop a situation like this is to fully back your data on a daily basis so that you can recover your device with your recovery even though your system is corrupted.

4. Phishing :-Attackers aim to manipulate shop owners into providing personal information such as passwords, financial information, and Social Security numbers by using email, text messages, and even phone calls. They normally pose as a government agency that is either “reading” or “updating” details it already has. If you didn’t start the conversation, it’s never a smart idea to hand away from any personal details. Contact the institution’s customer service line directly instead of responding to the text or email or delivering the information over the phone.

5. SQL Injection :-An SQL injection is a sly technique that hackers use to hack the program’s back end. This is technically a data leak, meaning they have access to sensitive information and can run a portion of the infrastructure without your consent. Please ensure your software is up to date to stop this threat and suggest building a host-based firewall to completely shield malicious data.

Ways to Protect E-Commerce Customer Data

The risk is much greater for small business owners, as the options for surveillance are often beyond their financial means.

Here are some tried-and-true strategies for a small as well as large company to keep itself and its shoppers secure.

1. Collect Data You Will Use :- The very first mistake most ecommerce store owners do is start collecting data that is probably not going to be used in the near future. We know it is important to collect data but only collect usable data. If you have collected the data and some security breach happens, you will become liable for that data. CTAs are seen on about any landing page of an online shop. It is simple to obtain a customer’s email address, phone number, or even credit card number. But, before you go collecting and hoarding this confidential data, consider whether you even need it in the first place. There is no requirement to gather every possible detail from a client for an online shop. If the data is valuable and losing it may result in significant damage, it is best not to gather it.

2. Don’t Store Customer Credit Card Information :-Now we understand how essential it is to save credit card details for faster checkout but storing it on an online server is not at all necessary. Keeping such confidential data online is akin to doubling down on your cybersecurity bet. It is a flagrant breach of PCI norms. If this confidential material is destroyed, you risk a tarnished image as well as civil fines for consumer damages. As a general rule, don’t store personal details online, such as a customer’s credit card number. If necessary, keep them in offline storage to keep them safe from hackers. You may also use payment facilitators such as Stripe, PayPal, Authorize.net, and others to manage the entire credit card process.

3. Use HTTP and SSL :-SSL certificates are fully integrated solutions that encrypt data sent between both the site server and the server. The encryption Process is the most secure method of providing online protection to clients. An SSL can actually shield data sent between a web browser and a server from being intercepted by hackers. SSL helps to increase the credibility of a website, particularly an e-commerce store, by adding an additional layer of protection above and beyond the firewall. After the SSL certificate setup, the URL will be highlighted in green with a green padlock sign in the store’s address bar.

4. Be PCI DSS Compliant :-One of the mandatory things for any online store is having PCI DSS compliance. It is necessary for websites that transact money online. Any authorised credit card business in the world follows PCI’s Data Security Policy. It is a widely agreed criterion for e-commerce protection that identifies a website as being safe enough to conduct financial transactions on.

5. Stay Up To Date With Security Patches :-Hackers are attracted to applications and services that have not been upgraded to the most recent models. They can be conveniently carried out by hackers who take advantage of known bugs in older models. Attackers have tools that allow them to crawl a website and track down systems or websites that aren’t properly protected. To prevent such a failure, the best course of action is to keep the security controls up to date when new ones are posted.

7. Double Check Everything :-Insiders is responsible for more than 62 per cent of corporate data breaches, as per Infosecbuddy’s Insider Threat Spotlight survey. Since 2014, insider attacks have been gradually rising and have now reached disturbing heights. Evaluating who has access to certain types of data, who has the ability to make modifications to database files, and monitoring those access privileges are all important aspects of website security. This leads to setting up access controls for admins, retailers, and even consumers in the e-commerce sector.

8. Ask Customers to Set-up Powerful Passwords :-There is no denial in the fact that confidential breaches occur when we take things lightly. Customer safety lies in their own hand. If they set up strong passwords with numbers, alphabets, and characters, hackers will not break into the account. A strong password is a key to preventing security breaches.

9. Keep a Crystal Clear and Honest Privacy Policy :-Another prominent thing you need to have on your ecommerce store is an honest privacy policy. Every website owner should have a crystal clear privacy policy as it enhances credibility and also builds trust among customers. If you are collecting data mentioned in the policy itself. One of the biggest mistakes most ecommerce store wonders do is mislead their customers about data collection. This can cause you a fortune if anything bad happens, one of the examples is Snapchat. The firm was found to have misled customers about personal details, including collecting information from iPhone contact lists and using lax security policies that subjected users to security breaches. Snapchat was not slapped with a monetary penalty. However, the organisation was required to meet a number of obligations, including putting in place a robust privacy program that will be monitored for the next 20 years by an outside authority.

10. Test for vulnerabilities :-If you think you have met the bare minimum security and that’s enough for your ecommerce store, you are absolutely wrong. Ecommerce sites need to monitor their sites on a regular basis to find any bugs that aren’t being detected by the latest protection tools they’re using. Hiring ethical hackers or cybersecurity professionals to detect any code flaws and run regular scans to ensure the web is malware-free or investing in specialised software applications, are only a few examples.

11. Prepare for the Worst :- It doesn’t mean something bad is going to happen to your store, it’s just you have a contingency plan if something happened. What will be your immediate action in difficult times. The plan involves considering everything worst and executing things accordingly so that your store won’t shut out in case of a cyber attack. It’s important to have protections in place to ensure that, in the event of a cyber threat, normal business operations will resume with little to no interruption.

12. Use a Web Application Firewall :-This fantastic security tool guards the website against popular flaws like SQL injection, cross-site scripting, and cross-site request forgery. As a result, good guests are accepted, while poor visitors are kept at bay. Web Application Firewall eliminates the risk of DDoS attacks by preventing potential hacks, blocking brute-force hacks, and deterring hacks.

13. Install Monitoring Software :-By installing monitoring software on your e-commerce website, you can keep an eye on a host for updates to the eCommerce platform’s key files and avoid file upload attacks. The monitoring software will update the admin if there has been an update made in the file. Not just this, It maintains an eye on the file system, documenting updates in key X-Cart files as well as permissions changes, in addition to real-time monitoring of the structure security incidents and server survivability monitoring.

These are some of the ways that can keep customer data secure and online stores safe. However, apart from this, you need to use your common sense too to prevent cyber attacks Like not sharing confidential information via email, using strong passwords, not sharing passwords with anyone, and much more. Not just this, many organisations conduct training sessions too to spread awareness about the cyber attacks and what to do in case it happens. Further, inform your customers and employees about your information management procedures. Tell them how you manage your consumers’ credit card information and what they should do to protect their own financial information. If you are safe enough then no attackers can hack into your stores.

Conclusion

That’s all! Here we have provided complete disclosure on how to keep customer data secure and online store safe. It is important to know that customers will only trust stores that have strong data handling management. No customers want their information out there on the internet. Handling and managing data is a crucial aspect of running a successful ecommerce store. With all this information in your hand, we are sure that you will be able to manage your ecommerce store from any point of attack. In case you need any kind of assistance you can reach out to RVS Media, one of the topmost ecommerce agencies in the UK.