Is online security important for your e-commerce website?

Every website, notably e-commerce website, has three groupings of visitors; The genuine client who wants to buy from you, the attacker who is targeting to steal from you and the other who is targeting to steal from your clients. Correct me if I’m wrong! And of course, we want a good night sleep knowing that we are having the good clients and locking away the enemy.
We go out of this world to protect our business premises with theft-proof locks and security guards. The same effort should apply to your website. It is disheartening to start over building a business or reputation for overlooking online security. Should security be your first priority? Yes it should.

• You risk being a payment fraud victim. Many business owners and their customers fall victim to credit card fraud. This has serious financial consequences including incurring loses while refunding affected clients.
• You risk damaging your reputation. In the event of a data breach, your brand will not only lose its reputation but also scare away loyal clients. Rebuilding trust will be more costly than taking security measures.
• Resolving the situation can be very costly. Having a team to resolve the issue can be very costly and can also take such a long time. Note that you could also lose all company data if you don’t have a measure to backup up your data.

If you have an e-commerce website, consider the following measures.

• Protect your clients’ information by only taking the information that is crucially needed.
• Ensure you have an SSL certificate to help encrypt and protect sensitive information especially on payment.
• Ensure your e-commerce website has multi-layered security.
• To ensure safer credit card processing, use an address verification system. It compares the billing address and card issuer information.
• It’s your responsibility to protect your clients’ data. Invest in safe storage means and be mindful of the information you collect on online forms.
• If your services are automated, delegate someone to go through your transaction list. This helps ensure descriptions match the prices and coupons/discounts are genuine. e.g. Employees can make a full refund for discounted purchases. It’s also an opportunity to check Fraud orders that could be genuine.
• Ask for CVV(card verification value). This is the three or four digit code at the back of the credit card. This could help in the event the fraudsters don’t have the physical card but have the other details.
• Ensure clients’ use strong password by putting a strong password strength especially for their client access accounts.
• Ensure your web host offers high-level security measures.
• Ensure your website & plugins are updated regularly. Please ensure you consult your developer before hitting the update button.

Amidst competition and the worrying cybersecurity threats, it is vital to take charge of your online security. It takes a second to bring down years of hard work. There are no trial and error moments, make deliberate effort starting now!