The world of online shopping is growing at a considerable rate and it doesn’t show any signs of slowing down. It’s expected that by the year 2040, up to 95% of sales will be conducted online. So if you’re an eCommerce business owner, you’re on the good path to success.
However, out of the many benefits eCommerce stores have to offer, a concern remains and that is how to make them safe. If you want to protect your customers and keep your reputation as a trustworthy eCommerce merchant, here are some ways to ensure your store stays safe and secure.
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Host your Store on AWS VPC
Amazon Web Services Virtual Private Cloud, or AWS VPC for short, is a virtual network that allows you to launch cloud resources while using AWS infrastructure, which is highly scalable.
There are three ways AWS VPC can help you keep your eCommerce store secure:
- PCI and DSS compliance. AWS VPC is compliant with both the Payment Card Industry (PCI) and Data Security Standard (DSS) which allows you to provide a safe environment for your customers who use credit cards.
- VPC security. Monitoring VPC security is done thanks to three different features that Amazon uses. This includes security groups that come with a virtual firewall, Network Access Control Lists, and flow logs.
- VPN connections. The AWS VPC portal allows you to make VPN connections from your data center and extend your corporate network to the cloud. From there, you can create a disaster recovery site and host scalable applications.
And for an extra layer of security, you can add on a network access control list or NACLs for short, to your VPC. This will act as a firewall and control your traffic. It can do this in and out of one or multiple subnets.
Credit Card Security
If you have an eCommerce store, you should accept credit cards. While it’s important to have multiple payment options on your website, credit cards are still the most used payment method online. But unfortunately, they can be prone to risks.
Credit card fraud is an issue all over the world and hackers use a variety of tactics such as phishing, spoofing, and skimming to steal credit card data. If your website falls victim to these hackers, not only will your customers lose their money, but you’ll also lose their trust.
As we already mentioned, ensuring PCI and DSS compliance is a great way to ensure credit card security, but here are some extra steps you can take:
- Use security codes. All credit cards come with a three or four-digit code that is located at the back, which is the security code. You can ask your website visitors to verify this code so that when they provide it, their card issuer will confirm if it’s valid or not.
- Look out for suspicious activity. Depending on what hosting platform or payment processor you use, you can set out alerts for certain suspicious activities.
- Don’t hold on to credit card data. Any of the credit card information you get such as the card number, security code, and expiry date shouldn’t be stored on your website. This way, in the case of a data breach, the hacker wouldn’t have any information to steal.
Track User Activity
Keeping an eye out for what your website visitors do is very important because it allows you to analyze user behavior and notice any suspicious activity that might pose a security threat.
Here are a few things that are most likely scams and security threats:
- Multiple payment methods sent out from one IP address.
- Overseas billing and shipping addresses, as well as different billing and shipping addresses for the same customer.
- A large volume of orders coming from a new customer, especially if it’s a bulk order for one item. This is usually a scammer purchasing an item with a stolen credit card with the intent to resell it later.
- Sudden frequent purchases from a customer who never bought in such high volumes in the past.
- Multiple orders that have the same shipping address but were paid for by different payment methods.
Insist on Strong Passwords
A large number of cyber-attacks occur because the end user’s password isn’t strong enough and the hacker can simply guess it.
There are many methods hackers use to guess weak passwords. To ensure your registered users don’t fall victim to this, ensure they all set up strong passwords that aren’t easy to guess. These passwords should have a combination of letters, numbers, and symbols.
And as an additional security measure, you can set up two-way authentication that will ensure only the person who made the account on your website can log in.
Conclusion
An eCommerce store that can’t ensure every person who visits and buys something will have a safe transaction will soon be abandoned by its customers. With so many eCommerce stores that offer safe and secure shopping, if you don’t do the same, you will be pushed out by your competitors.