The security of online store customers is first and foremost the security of personal data and customer payments.
Almost everyone is using online shops today. That’s why new players in the market of Internet commerce are appearing. Unfortunately, they can not always boast not only good service but also security for the buyer. Why is it so and how to solve this problem?
What is security in the case of eCommerce store?
The safety of online store customers is first and foremost the safety of personal data and payments of customers. It should be noted immediately that the range of solutions used in online stores is directly proportional to the size of the store itself. Usually, small and medium-sized stores prefer not to work with customer payments themselves, transferring this data to outsourcing. Or even refuse to pay online, in this case, payment for delivery is made in cash to the courier shop. Thus the shop is no longer responsible for confidential information of the client.
For the same large online shops steps to ensure customer safety can be called one of the most pressing concerns. The basic methods used to ensure such security – receiving information from the customer through a secure channel (HTTPS), as well as constant updating of the “engine” in order to eliminate vulnerabilities found by employees of the company, and store payment data must be encrypted. It’s true how massively these methods are used, it’s hard to judge because there hasn’t been much research on this issue. However, in general, all eCommerce stores that are now ‘on the wire’ use these security measures to protect the confidential information of their customers.
More “advanced” methods can be called control over the security of client data using DLP-systems, which are often used today by other companies. Such methods are often inaccessible to online retailers, because in online stores usually, staff works remotely, and the protection with the help of such systems is often quite expensive. Low fines, which today are issued for leaks of personal information of customers, make the use of such expensive systems in eCommerce disadvantageous. But, since DLP-systems can allow not only not to be afraid of leaks, but also to find other harm that can be inflicted by shop employees, then sometimes large online stores still implement them.
Why is eCommerce unsafe?
The main reason for problems in the security of Internet commerce – economic. Companies usually do not want to invest in the protection of customer privacy because unlike advertising or the expansion of the range of information protection does not lead to a marked increase in sales and profits online store. The impact of a data breach on a “mid-level” store is usually not very high, as fines are low, and the reputation of these companies is not at the top of their list of priorities.
If we talk about technical issues, then a mass problem can be called the use of old versions of CMS, they have a large number of vulnerabilities that are well known to attackers. The second place is occupied by the storage of payment information in the database and storage in unencrypted form – and as a result, any unauthorized access to it can turn into a disaster. All this happens due to the desire of eCommerce retailers to economize on technical staff, as well as due to not very deep technical knowledge of administrators and owners of such Internet resources.
Threats and protection
For someone who wants to protect their customers, there’s good news. The protection means are now fully compliant with the threat level. Every owner of an online store today can easily turn to a specialized company that will be able to ensure the security of its Internet resource – from a full IT audit, ending with the creation of a reliable security system. However, small online stores, of which the majority today, usually try to maximize profits by eliminating most of the “extra” costs, which includes the cost of providing security information. This is one of the strong arguments for buying goods from large and well-known online stores that value their reputation.
What can you do yourself?
Fortunately, even if you do not yet have the opportunity to contact professionals to protect your online store, you can improve its security itself. To do this, you need to stick to a few simple recommendations:
- Do not use cracked versions of Magento Hosting, it is better to pay several tens of dollars for a license than to be framed for malware embedded in such engines.
- Create a strong password from the site administrator panel, and do not show it to anyone.
- If you do not have the skills to install and configure such “engines” yourself, it is better to use one of the cloud services to host your store.
- Do not order the development and filling of the store to freelancers without appropriate work experience: here, in contrast to the site-card, security plays a very important role
- Update your store’s engine in time when you receive notification of updates.
Of course, these are just the basics, but they will help you raise the security of your point of sale to a much higher level.
Nobody has calculated how much eCommerce trading loses because of negligent and careless attitude to the safety of its customers. The above examples show that the scale of such losses can be quiet and very impressive, especially for large eCommerce operators. However, of course, the final choice is always the store itself.
