Do you participate in the huge industry of online selling? If you do, you’ve likely thought about implementing some security measures.
Online transactions must be protected, as does personal information that your customers entrust you with. So how do you protect those things?
Luckily, enacting great e-commerce security doesn’t have to be hard. You just need to know the ropes.
To help you keep your site, transactions, and customers safe, here are ten e-commerce security tips, and a bit about how VPS can help.
Technology keeps moving right along, both good and bad. That means you’ve got to keep your security software up to date.
Using out of date software means it will be easier for hackers and other issues to break in. Make sure you have the most up to date protection you can get. When updates are available for your software, make sure you allow them to happen.
There are many platforms available where you can set up your e-commerce site. Before jumping at the first or cheapest option you find, consider the security offered to you.
The best e-commerce platforms will have security features built in. Make sure your platform of choice has this. Contact the company that operates the platform if you need to.
There are plenty to choose from so never set up your website on a platform that doesn’t offer security features.
To protect your customers, make sure all transactions are encrypted with SSL. Your customers will look for that “lock” symbol that tells them the site is secure, so make sure you have it.
Encryption doesn’t just make your customers feel better. It protects the information that goes between your server and your customer’s browser.
When transactions are carried out, customers will have to supply you with a good amount of important private information. Stay away from storing any of that information that you don’t need to keep.
You simply don’t need to store everyone’s credit card security codes, so don’t do it. The less sensitive information you have stored, the better.
When your customer’s set up their accounts with you, help protect their information by requiring strong passwords. Following simple guidelines can make a password much stronger than the first thing that pops into someone’s head.
To help make passwords stronger, require the use of at least one capital letter, a number, and a symbol. You can also ban the use of full words or set length requirements.
If you have multiple e-commerce sites, host them on different servers. How does this enhance security? By ensuring that if one server is compromised only one of your sites will be affected.
When all your sites are on one server, penetration could mean all your sites can be compromised. Keeping your sites separate will help protect you and your customers from security breaches.
Alert systems are available to let you know if anything suspicious is going on. Use one of these systems to help you stay on top of security. The quicker you know about potential threats, the better off you’ll be.
All employees must be trained in implementing secure practices, no matter what their job entails. One mistake can be detrimental to the security of your entire setup.
Require employees to use strong, secure passwords and to change them often. Train them often on how to avoid phishing scams so they don’t compromise any information. This needs to be done on all levels, from the CEO to the newest employee.
Only allow access where it’s needed. Every employee doesn’t need to have access to every bit of information and every function that makes up your website. Give each employee access to what they need, and nothing more.
This isn’t a move to show your employees you don’t trust them. This is simply a security measure. Temporary access can be granted if needed, but if you can avoid too much access to certain things, do it.
All important data should be backed up regularly. This ensures that your data will be available even if it’s removed or accessed by sources that shouldn’t have access.
Don’t forget to back up to a different location than where the original data is stored. Otherwise, both sets of information could be hacked at once.
Utilizing VPS is one way to enhance the security on your e-commerce website. What is VPS? A VPS is a virtual private server.
How is your security affected by the implementation of VPS? It’s strengthened. This is because you have your own dedicated server. There are no other websites on the server that can be hacked, so you have more protection from hackers.
Keeping each of your sites on a separate server is ideal, as was mentioned in point six of this list. The same thing applies here. With no other sites to be hacked on the server, you only need to worry about your own site-the one you have control over.
Enhancing your e-commerce security is always a good idea. You never know when someone is going to try to hack your site and your customers’ information.
So stay up to date and employ best practices to give yourself the best chance at protecting your information. For the most effective security, implement a VPS.
We offer VPS options to meet every business’ needs. Check out our options to find the right one for your business.
