If you are a new or developing business in the e-commerce sector, congratulations! Online sales and purchases are seeing an annual increase; A study of overall global market trends predicts that e-commerce will surpass 22 percent of all global sales by 2023, up from 12.2 percent in 2018 just five years ago.  And security tools in e-commerce will become more important as the industry grows.

Increasing their cyber defense is essential for businesses that want to maintain a competitive advantage. Without proper defense, an attack can be the difference between being next to Amazon or Alibaba or declining by the wayside

What is Ecommerce Security

Ecommerce Security is a set of guidelines designed to allow secure transactions on the web. e-commerce security refers to the steps and protocols used to protect the buying and sale of products and services online. Appropriate e-commerce security measures increase consumer confidence.

Best E-commerce Security Software and Cybersecurity Tools

The cyber security threats faced by e-commerce businesses vary widely. On the one hand, e-commerce businesses face all the challenges that common businesses face with all the risks associated with malware, social engineering, and other common attacks. On the other hand, there are also threats that specifically target e-commerce, such as DDoS attacks.

To keep yourself safe, you need to implement a strong cyber security framework, which will be completed with a variety of different systems and practices at all levels of your company.

Firewalls and web filters

One of the first and most basic cyber defenses that all businesses need is a secure firewall. This is especially true for the e-commerce industry, where you always want to increase traffic (and ideally shopping). A firewall is the first line of defense that screens all incoming and outgoing data related to your hosted traffic.

Firewalls get their name from the physical walls of buildings that insulate the room and stop the spread of fire within the structure. But a good physical analog is a wide mesh. Firewalls can capture any incoming data that may be dangerous, such as malware and phishing attempts.

Then, the best way to strengthen that defense is to install a more subtle net. Not every piece of information that goes through a firewall is necessarily secure; All things you pass must be actively filtered so that you do not miss a camouflage or well-hidden threat. Services like Cisco’s Umbrella do just that.

Access management system

Another component of an effective cybersecurity architecture is an airtight account and access management system. Every important function and resource should be protected with at least one authentication system. But just needing certificates like usernames and passwords is a long way from secure password management.

In fact, passwords are not enough to keep your most valuable data safe.

According to guidelines established by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), password management should include:

Passphrase – Instead of simple strings of letters and numbers, passphrase uses multiple words, as well as spaces. This makes them much harder to guess.

Hashing – No matter how weak or strong the password is, it should not be saved as plain text. Instead, they need to be encrypted and invalidated (and obscure) translations of incredibly complex numbers to humans.

MFA – and, bypassing the password completely, users need to enable the second type of authentication factor to access their accounts. Common examples include a second user-owned device that is sent to one-time access codes.

Controlling access is one of the most important aspects of overall e-commerce cyber security. To that end, use training to ensure that your entire staff uses strong passwords, updates them regularly, and takes advantage of MFA.

Patch Management Report

Adherence to regulatory guidelines is one of the most important parts of cyber security. Adherence to certain rules is ideal for most companies of some sizes and all sectors.

For example, Companies contracted with the Department of Defense have CMMCs

Businesses in healthcare and its adjoining fields all need to think about HIPAA

Anyone trading in bulk power systems requires NERC CIP compliance

When it comes to e-commerce, the biggest hurdle to jump in is PCI-DSS compliance.

But to work legally you have a lot more consent than in the field of bureaucratic red tape. Necessary control and protection ensure uniform expectations so that customers and clients know what they can expect when working with security-based businesses.

The best tool to make sure you are fully compliant? Powerful patch management service with detailed reports of all hardware, software, and practice requirements.

Weakness assessment scan

Consent is not the end of cyber security management; This is just a starting point.

Some of the most useful e-commerce security software works with in-depth analysis of all vulnerabilities and potential threats that may affect your security. This includes detailed cataloging and analysis of all the resources, resources, and systems your network has created.

The most important components to monitor include:

All hardware and software

Server and cloud services

Accounts and information

The ultimate goal of vulnerability assessment is to create a robust data set of all actual and potential risks. This means vulnerabilities and gaps in your existing infrastructure that could become the entry point for cybercriminals. But that means any and all areas that can turn into vulnerabilities over time. Weakness analysis lets you move forward from the problem.

Penetration test

Taking the last tool one step further is the only way to truly understand the depth and breadth of your weaknesses. You need to test them in real-time.

Write the penetration test, also known as the pen test.

Pen testing is a revolutionary field in cyber security. It is a form of ethical hacking that simulates exactly what an attack will look like. There are two main types of pen tests:

External – Also called “black hat”, these tests force simulated hackers to start from scratch without any privileged knowledge about your network. It gives you a complete picture of the whole process and how fast hackers can enter your system.

Internal – Also known as “white hat”, these attacks start from a privileged location “inside” your network. The attacker starts with some information, such as login credentials or network details. The purpose is to study what the attacker will do once inside.

This type of analysis lets you see the exact steps cybercriminals try to attack your network. Knowing their potential plans wants you to resist it and notice any potential vulnerabilities.

NordVPN

We have mentioned the importance of VPNs before and we will continue to sing their praises until every eCommerce entrepreneur jumps on the board. Using a VPN is a fundamental aspect of web security and something that is very easy to sign up for and use on a mobile or desktop device.

VPNs are especially important for public WiFi network users – such as coffee shops or airports – because literally anyone can download free software on their own devices and see what everyone else (unprotected) using the same WiFi network is doing on their computer or smartphone – passwords, users Every website they’re going to and whatever they’re typing in their browser, including name, login, and credit card information. It is known under the terms “packet analyzer,” “packet sniffing,” “protocol analyzer,” “network analyst,” or “packet capture,” and is very practical.

VPN services like NordVPN address this web security threat by encrypting anything before leaving your computer so it is a much safer way to browse. As we mentioned in the section above, some VPNs do not account for DNS leaks but NordVPNs, which is one of the reasons why it is considered one of the best VPNs on the market. Check out their DNS leak test to learn more.

In addition to protecting your highly sensitive personal and professional information, VPNs are also highly desirable because they enable users to bypass geo-blocked content online. So if you live somewhere that censors certain websites or you just want to watch American / British / Australian Netflix, VPN can take you there.

Authy Authenticator App

F 2-factor authentication is part of your daily routine (and if you log in and out of your business dashboard every day) then an authentication app that you’ve probably already used. If it doesn’t, it’s time to start using 2-factor authentication and to do that, you’ll want to set up with Athi.

Authy is one of the best authentication apps on the market right now because they back up all your code so you can access your accounts even if you lose your device. Plus, Athi is also available as a desktop app and a mobile app so you don’t always have to access your authentication combinations from your phone – which is ideal if your phone isn’t conveniently accessible for any reason when you try it. To log in to an account

All code backed up in the cloud is also encrypted, so there is an extra level of security and privacy that an authentication app should be an essential requirement.

If you haven’t already used 2-factor authentication, get started by installing 2-factor authentication on your Google Account. If you’re like most people and you have a Gmail email address, you want to protect it under 2-factor authentication because if a hacker ever gets access to your Gmail account, they can not only access your sensitive information but they can use it. As a hub for changing all your other passwords to gain access to your other accounts. 

Fast Mail

Fastmail is a privacy-based email hosting service that is easy to use and effective, does not show ads, and provides a good mail service.

They are a paid service, enabling them to maintain the level of service they provide without having to dig into their clients’ personal data and share it with third parties. They are also located in Australia where there are generally strict privacy laws, which gives them another edge to be one of the most secure and privacy-centric email hosting platforms on the market.

Other than that, their dashboard is much easier and cleaner to use, there are better options for categorizing and organizing emails, and the overall user experience is more premium which is an additional reason why we recommend them on other email platforms.

Little Snitch

If you have learned something about web security that you did not know before reading this article, it may be that something happens behind the scenes while you are browsing the web that you do not know.

Tracking Scripts, Ad Tracker, Privacy Tracker, Cookies, DNS Leaks, Packet Analyzer and many more Whether you may not know that you need to protect yourself from this aggressive security and privacy threat. Little Snitch, however, is a tool that reveals what’s going on behind the scenes so you can better protect yourself.

The power of knowledge, and when invisible trackers and privacy threats are visible by Little Snitch, you can take action to block them if you want. Little Snitch notifies you whenever an app tries to connect to a server on the Internet so that you agree to it before connection which means no data is shared without your consent and puts you in the driver’s seat of your own privacy online.

Common eCommerce security threats and problems

You have several threats to protect your online store. Common examples of security threats include hacking, misuse of private information, pecuniary theft, phishing attacks, defenseless provision of services, and credit card fraud. Let’s take a look at some of the common issues that plague online businesses.

Financial fraud

Financial fraud has hurt online businesses from the beginning. Hackers make unauthorized transactions and wipe out the trail of business costs causing significant amounts of damage. Some fraudsters also file counterfeit requests for refunds or returns. Return fraud is a common financial fraud where the business returns illegally acquired goods or damaged goods.

For example, Jimmy likes to capitalize on fraudulent activities. He knows that friendly fraud is a simple medium where he can buy a thing, use it, and then return it to get his money back, so he does it!

Spam

Where emails are known to be a powerful medium for high sales, it remains one of the most widely used means for spamming. Nevertheless, comments or contact forms on your blog are an open invitation to online spammers where they leave tainted links to harm you.. They often send via their media inbox and wait for you to click on such conversation. Moreover, spamming not only affects the security of your website, but it also harms the speed of your website.

Phishing

This is one of the general security threats to eCommerce where hackers cheat as a lawful business and sent emails to your clients in order to disclose their sensitive information by presenting mesh copies of your legitimate website or something that allows the customer to trust. Requests are coming from business

Common phishing tactics include emailing your customers or your team with fake “you need to take this step” messages. This strategy only follows through with the actions of your customers and gives them access to their login information or other personal information that hackers can use to their advantage.

Bot

You can recognize bots from your good books such as crawling the web and helping your website to rank higher in search engine results pages. However, websites have created exclusive bots to scrap for their price and inventory information. Hackers use this type of information to alter the value of your online store, or to collect the list of bestsellers in the shopping cart, resulting in reduced sales and revenue.

DDoS attack

Distributed Daniel of Service (DDOS) attacks and DOS (Daniels of Service) attacks aim to disrupt your website and affect overall sales. These attacks flood your servers with countless requests until they commit suicide and your website crashes.

Attack by barbaric forces

These attacks target the admin panel of your online store and try to extract your password through brute force. It uses programs that establish a connection to your website and use every possible combination to crack your password. You can protect yourself from such attacks by using a strong, complex password. Be sure to change it regularly.

SQL injection

SQL injection is a cyber-attack that targets your query submission forms for the purpose of accessing your database. They inject malicious code into your database, collect data, and then delete it.

XSS

Hackers infect your online store with malicious code and target visitors to your website. You can protect yourself against this by implementing a content protection policy.

Brave warrior horse

Administrators and customers can download Trojan Horse into their system. This is one of the worst network security threats where attackers using these programs easily swipe sensitive information from their computers.

Last Word

The importance of web security cannot be overstated, so if you fly blindly without any protection for your personal and professional information, you are putting your – and potentially, your customers’ – information at risk of malicious attacks. This is not the time to take risks – this is the time to be proactive and take every precautionary measure available to you, such as the 15 eCommerce security and privacy tools we’ve shown in this article and how they work for your business. Do it now to set up with these tools and services and reap the rewards later when you can be sure your site, data, and information are secure