Almost every business is using an e-commerce website because it operates 24/7 and helps to pull in traffic and increase product exposure. But how much does businesses know about the security and confidentiality that protects both the business and consumer details? The importance in e-commerce security is not just to safeguard the information but also promotes the business as one that is reliable, credible and legitimate.
Vendor’s Credibility
It is good to encourage business owners to opt for vendors that provide the security their website requires. Also it would be best to go for a vendor whose security service is evaluated, reviewed and verified by other business partners. This way, businesses can have a peace of mind when entrusting such important work to reliable vendors.
Performing Updates and Backups
One very important digital knowledge that every individual knows of would be backup storage. This function can be seen in multiple platforms and the purpose is to ensure that businesses can go back on track with the backup should there be any issue that happens along the way.
With that said, it is good business practice to always update and backup in a timely manner so as to avoid losing important consumer or business related data. Furthermore, when an e-commerce web has outdated security, it can put a risk to the business information because hackers are targeting old and outdated web security for ease of unauthorized access and illegal usage.
Several Layers of Security
Having not one but perhaps more than one layer of security for your e-commerce is probably a good way to deter hackers from easy and unauthorized access. It simply means double the protection and double the credibility and reliability your business is to your consumers.
2-Step Authentication
More and more e-commerce sites are using the two-step verification for consumers to log in or make payment. The reason is to ensure double protection because just the use of a password might not be strong enough to ensure data discretion. The two step verification or authentication would be password and then an auto generated four to six digit code that is sent to the user’s verified phone number. Other than the phone, tokens are also used to generate codes. These methods help to double confirm that the one with the data is the user itself and that with a unique password and code verification, it offers double the protection.
Eliminate Storing of Consumer Data
E-commerce web can also eliminate the process of storing consumers’ payment details. Although it can be deemed as a hassle for repeated customers who will have to enter the same details for all repeated purchases, it is still one of the ways to ensure that there is no information leakage to third parties.
If not doable, businesses can also work with payment gateways such as PayPal which has a security team to monitor and prevent any suspicious transaction related to fraud, phishing or even fraudulent theft. Some of these payment gateways use SSL encryption which means it requires two unique keys in order to obtain the data. One key is open to the public eye and the other one is only known by the recipient.
VPN
VPN is the abbreviation for Virtual Private Network. The main purpose of VPN is to make sure that whatever data that you use when surfing the internet, these data are encrypted and translated into messages that cannot be read so that third parties hacking into the route will not be able to read the accurate data.
It is however, very important to note that not all countries allow the use of VPN. For some countries, certain businesses are allowed to while the usage of VPN is illegal for others.
Trademark
Always remember to register your business and trademark the name as well as the company’s logo if any. This is to ensure that no copycats are out there prying into the profit your company is making. With trademarking, it makes the business unique and all products or services that it offers will be their very own intellectual property.
Educating Consumers and Staff Members
Ever seen a pop up message from authentic sites of banks and et cetera? These sites often remind their users never to share their details with anyone or inform them about recent scams that have happened to other users due to third party phone calls, messages or emails that act as a bank personnel to cheat people of their banking or credit and debit details.
It is good to include a message to constantly remind users and inform them of any possible scams that could happen to them so that they can take precaution and safeguard their details.
Also, businesses should educate the staff on what to do if they find any suspicious activity or transaction from the e-commerce web. This is to act as quickly as possible and stop further unauthorized access to more consumer information.
Why Is It Important?
With so many ways for a business to maximize security for their e-commerce, why is it so important for businesses to have a strong e-commerce security?
Other than the obvious of losing all the consumers due to the lack of protection the site has to offer, the business is also breaching security compromise and might have to compensate those that are affected. This will lead to a great amount of loss for the business as well as the bankruptcy of reliability the business has accumulated over the time of operation.Â
Conclusion
As the business trend starts to climb towards digital and technology, it is also a warning and wake up call for businesses to understand the importance of having a well secured E commerce web in order to safeguard sensitive information of their consumers as well as the transaction data between their business and consumers.
Having a well protected E commerce web not only safeguard the above mentioned, it also allows consumers to have a piece of mind when shopping on your web. The reliability and legitimacy will further enhance the reputation of the business in the E commerce world and helps to increase business profit.
