Establishing an e-commerce website is simple nowadays. Maintaining your website to make it safe from fraud, hacking and copycats, is not too much. As small business owners understand all too well, one key violation or too many charge backs or somebody stealing your business name or copying your merchandise could signify the end of your small business.
Here are a few tips on how you can increase your e-commerce site’s security and prevent copycats.
1. Trademark your business name and logo
Too many entrepreneurs mistakenly feel that as a domain name is available or that they could form an LLC or business using their regional Secretary of State that their organization name or brand can be obtained as a trademark, but this is not the case.
To be certain that nobody else may use your business name and logo, you want to trademark them. Registering the name for a trademark also protects against potential copiers, infringers, knockoffs, etc., who [may] attempt to steal or capitalize upon [your own] brand.
I would suggest all, especially those smaller businesses to register a logo design for their organization name and any item that may possibly be reproduced by a competitor or Oriental maker when they begin doing business.
2. Use a reliable e-commerce platform
Building your site on a Software-as-a-Service platform such as BigCommerce, Shopify or Magento means that you have a domain which is hosting your store and taking care of any problems or security threats that may arise. Having website designers customise your e-commerce site allows you to specifically cater your customers.
3. Use HTTP using SSL = HTTPS
Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) is the standard security technology for establishing an encrypted link between a web server and a browser. Safe SSLs are extremely important to e-commerce transactions, helping to make sure sensitive personal and financial information is protected through the purchase process while creating confidence for your online shop and providing shoppers extra reassurance when purchasing products. HTTP over SSL is popularly called HTTPS and provides greater protection (encryption). However, a surprising variety of sites still do not support HTTPS.
For a much higher degree of safety consider allowing HTTP Strict Transportation Security (HSTS). This reduces the probability of deceptive modifications to your consumer’s net requests and aids to stop man-in-the-middle attacks.
4. Ensure Your Website is PCI DSS compliant
PCI DSS stands for Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards.
Many payment integrators, such as Stripe or Braintree, store and encrypt credit card information for you, so not one of the important payment information is saved on your side.
5. Keep your website updated
Unpatched extensions and applications will make your e-commerce site an easy target. Maintaining your site with appropriate web design and backend software, upgraded with the latest security patches is your single largest (and simplest) measure a small company can take towards security and the prevention of an attack.
A site which is not entirely up-to-date using its own security patches is exposed to an attack. Therefore, it is critical that e-commerce merchants guarantee that all available patches are applied to their internet platforms. Keep on top of release cycles to make sure that people are always up-to-date. Additionally, utilize a firewall facing the e-commerce shop to help protect against vulnerabilities which may be discovered. This is an added measure of security before patches are implemented.
6. Require strong passwords
Using long-term and random passwords make the probability of hackers crashing your site less likely. Have employees use strong passwords, a mix of upper and lowercase letters, symbols and numbers, or an online advanced password generator to safeguard yourself.
7. Use a Firewall
As the Name Implies, a firewall is a hardware or software program that essentially works as a portal or gateway between networks, allowing authorized traffic and preventing unauthorized or potentially malicious traffic from accessing a system or network.
It essentially protects from threats on the internet like backdoor and DDoS attacks. Since e-commerce websites have a lot of incoming traffic, they need firewalls to protect themselves against any attack or malicious behaviour.
There are several distinct kinds of firewalls, but two quite effective firewalls for internet retailers are program gateways and proxy firewalls.
Application Gateways
Using an application gateway set up, there are just two lines of communication: one between your computer and the proxy, then one between the proxy and the destination computer or community. It’s basically a checkpoint that all network information has to stop at. By functioning at this middle stage, the gateways help hide and protect your community from other people, only letting in visitors that have been authorized.
Proxy Firewalls
Just like the application gateway, the proxy serves as an intermediary connection. But they take it one step further, instead of your network connection going all of the way through, a new network connection is launched at the proxy firewall. This usually means that there is not any direct link between systems in any way, which makes it even more difficult for attackers to discover your network and get in.
It’s important to note that, such as a firewall to be effective, it has to be properly configured.
Have a professional website design enhances reliabiloity in the e-commerce site and encourages trust with potential customers.
