If 2020 has been indicative of how interested the modern customer is in online shopping, we can safely say that the industry will grow rapidly for years to come. Local brick-and-mortar companies have moved online in order to survive, but this may very well be the nudge they’ve needed to outgrow their current reach. With more players showing up across a variety of eCommerce fields, hackers are doing their best to keep up and think of clever ways to do some damage. Knowing that security is the primary, fundamental prerequisite for anyone to buy from you – cyber security naturally becomes your priority.
With the right solutions at hand and ample tech support that continuously monitors how well your site is performing, you can rest assured your customers are safe, and so is their data. Let’s go over a few of the most vital components of a strong cyber security strategy for your eCommerce business, and give you the basis for ensuring your customers’ trust in the future.
Select the right platform
The growth of the eCommerce world has inspired the diversification of options when it comes to running your online store. Among many choices you have to make, picking the right platform is crucial when you’re just starting your eCommerce company, as it will define your ability to scale and attract your customers. When people know you’re using a reliable platform, they are far more likely to buy from you.
As for your security, it’s in the best interest of each of these platforms to protect your business. By continuously creating security patches and performance improvements for the platforms, you also get better cyber security for your store.
Ongoing employee education
People are the most vital assets in your eCommerce business. That is why their behavior and everyday decisions will greatly impact the security of all your processes and operations. That said, make sure your employees in every department know how to recognize email scams such as phishing, and that they use reliable password managers to store and create passwords.
Add to that, and make sure that your onboarding and offboarding processes help employees adjust. Create different layers of accessibility for the most sensitive data – there’s no need for everyone to have access to all of it, so stick to a hierarchy. Teach your employees how to interact safely online and how to ensure that customers do the same.
Build a dedicated security system
There are employees who will handle all kinds of important information, such as your sales and marketing managers. However, you cannot expect them to handle a potential malware attack or to update your systems across your entire organization.
For that very reason, eCommerce companies need in-house security experts and IT staff with the right certification from a reputable cyber security course that will create a security strategy and ensure safe operations. Your security staff will be in charge of training everyone else, but they’ll also supervise all your systems, update software, and keep everything running smoothly.
Use software and hardware protection
With a trusted team of IT specialists, you can use the most advanced software protection for your business in order to prevent data breaches, leaks, or transaction-related issues. Hackers frequently automate their bots to look for vulnerabilities within organizations and then insert a virus, ransomware, or any other piece of code to wreak havoc on your security.
Add to that, hardware firewalls make your business network secure and practically impenetrable. Combine both hardware and software prevention to elevate your cyber security and ensure that your employees have a safe space in which they can operate with sensitive data.
Backups and updates are vital
From the platform on which your eCommerce site is built to antivirus software and your computer systems – everything needs regular updates. Developers continuously work on adding new security patches and improving the performance of all these systems, which means that you need to keep up with them, too.
By creating a safe eCommerce store for your customers and a safe business for your employees, your ability to sell will grow, and your reputation will improve over time. That is why ongoing system maintenance will always be a pillar of cyber security initiatives for all e-commerce companies.
Whether you’re new to the game or you have been running your online store for a while now, it’s never too soon to update your cyber security practices. With the help of these and your existing security measures, you can prevent cyber attacks of various sorts, keep your business transactions secure, your customer data safe, and above all, your reputation intact.
