Best Practices for eCommerce Website Security: PT 2

Protecting your reputation, customer data, and sales revenue are some of the most important reasons to reinforce your eCommerce website's security. Dealing with hackers and unhappy customers is never fun. With so much at stake and to protect, knowing what you can do to take your security to the next level is imperative. In part one of our website security blog, we defined exactly what website security entails as well as some of the most common threat signs. 

Now, let's dive into some hardening techniques that will help take your security measures to the next level and protect your store from ever-present hackers. 

Toughen Up Your Website’s Relative Security and Slash eCommerce Fraud 

Relative Security is a measure of how susceptible or juicy your site may be to hackers compared to the rest of the web. The most high-risk websites are often political sites, financial firms, and larger companies with security risks. A few steps to assess your relative security involve: 

Creating an enemy profile by:

• Understanding what individuals or organizations exist with malicious intent. 
• Knowing if or how an individual could make money by attacking you. 

Consider your exterior perception: 

• Does your company have a solid reputation? 
• Are there steps you can take to minimize conflict and improve your image? 
• How is your company represented online? Is there an unnecessary tone or content that comes off as aggravating or aggressive? 

If the outside world perceives your brand to be a lucrative target, it might be time to reassess the security of your website, especially the checkout and product pages. 

Improve your eCommerce Store Security with PCI Compliance

Payment Card Industry or PCI standards are the baseline measures that credit card companies have put in place to provide a secure platform for customers and merchants to reduce online fraud. 

PCI Security Council resources include: 

• PCI Security Standards 
• Payment Application Data Security Standard 
• P2P Encryption Standards 
• Payment Application Data Security Standard 
• P2P Encryption Standards 

As a merchant, PCI compliance should be at the top of your security measures list. 

Remove Customers Financial Data From Your Website 

Another effective method to protect sensitive financial data from attackers is to remove credit cards and other financial information from your site. Luckily, using a PCI-compliant platform like Shopify automatically deletes this information so that you never need to worry. If you choose to use another eCommerce merchant platform, be sure to investigate other 3rd party applications like X-Payments. As a PCI Level 1 certified payment solution, it will allow you to store credit card data right on your website and still be compliant.   

Delete Default Passwords from Your Online Store 

Like switching the passcode on the garage or locks on your front door, getting rid of default passwords created during installation can save you a potential world of headache. Having secure and complex passwords massively reduces fraud risk. Once you understand the terminology of user-profiles and internal preferences make sure to: 

• Check the internal management or settings module tab to ensure the users and permissions are in order. Delete any extra users or admins. 
• Replace passwords of each admin with new and secure passwords. Be sure to use a secure location when storing passwords or admin information.
• Re-check every online tool or installation that may have a default admin or password information linked to them. 

A long or complex password greatly increases your security levels and reduces the chances of a hacker guessing your password by happenstance. Two-factor authentication is an equally effective method to prevent fraud, requiring users and admins to enter a one-time code from their smartphone that verifies their identity before gaining access. 

Secure Your Web Browser and Operating System 

With so much accessible information and data stored online, using the most secure web browser is vitally important. According to the Safety Detectives, the most secure web browsers in 2021 include Firefox, Tor, and Brave. Ranking metrics for these secure browsing platforms work off a measure of general security, data collection priorities, performance, ease of use, and compatibility across devices. Given the amount of malware, hackers, and data thieves a solid browser should be able to protect you from phishing or fake sites, web trackers, spyware, screen loggers, and malicious ads.