How to Secure E-Commerce Websites from Cyber Threats?

There's always two sides to a coin!

Though things may seem fancy and customary in the E-Commerce sphere, there are gruesome threats that associate with the security concerns that it has to deal with every single day!

With that, let's get underway and take a deep dive and explore more about e-commerce website security threats and find some way out of it.

Okay! let me put up a question.

Suppose, you visit an online website, you make a purchase and proceed to pay for the same.

It likely, that you will have to enter your sensitive card details such as card number, CVV, etc. as you make the payment for the purchase.

Sometimes later, you realise that some amount of money from the same card is debited, but it wasn't you who did the transaction.

Later on, it was put to your knowledge, that your debit card has been hacked; and that's when you think of your last transaction made online, yes at the online store!

As a customer, with such an awful experience, would you ever get back to that store for your buying needs? The answer is No!

In this scenario, at one hand the store owner shall lose a customer; and the customer, on the other hand, would lose trust in your brand.

It is also possible that the customer might even recommend other friends, not to visit your store, where again the store owner lost another bunch of customers, just in case!

E-Commerce Website Security: What is it?

With E-Commerce growing, the online websites have become prone to data theft and fraudulent activities.

E-Commerce Website Security, is the footfalls toward securing our online websites from cyber threats.

It is the initiative taken to secure online websites from hackers and cyber thieves. The business owner must follow a proper security strategy to avoid cyber-attacks.

If not, the hacker will get fortunate and spread the attack from one system to another, which makes it difficult to find the root of the attack; thus corrupting your system entirely.

E-Commerce Website Security: What makes it a Crucial Aspect?

With so much data that is present online, it has become vital to take measures to safeguard the integrity of the websites' data; and even the sensitive information customers share at various instances of a purchase process.

This is because, online websites are vulnerable to malicious attacks, and these attacks can occure anytime, anywhere.

Mostly the hackers target your customers' information such as their card details, their passwords, etc.

Let us understand why your website's security is important-

• Compliance: The online website that you own must meet some specific standards set by government and private institutions.

• Economic Risk: If you do not want to pay for data recovery agencies, or investigations, then you must take prime steps to avoid the same.

• Building Customers' Trust: Gaining customer's trust is not easy. Once customer's lose trust on your brand, customer retention would be at stake as they would not come back for their buying needs.

PCI Compliance

The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCI-DSS) defines mainstream security scenarios for online website owners.

This implies to safeguarding the cardholder's sensitive data such as card info, card holder's name, account number, pin, CVV, etc. that online websites gather when customers make online payments.

CIA Triad: Information Security

CIA, which stands for Confidentiality, Integrity, Availability, is responsible for drafting Security Policies for organisations.

It is basically concerned with IT security and drafts solutions for various security concerns that IT industry face.

Let's study the CIA Triad in detail-

• Confidentiality: It refers to protecting sensitive and delicate information from illicit access. This means one must limit access to such information. To administer confidentiality given methods can be used, i.e. volume and file encryption, access control lists, Unix File permissions, etc.

• Integrity: Safeguarding the Integrity of data is the most critical part. This section of the CIA involves securing data from unauthorized alterations or removal, i.e. only the site owner can make changes and the users get to access the genuine information.

• Availability: Availability refers to making data available when it is actually needed. Distributed Denial of Service DDoS attack is a common threat to website availability.

Prevalent Security Threats for E-Commerce Websites

There are a number of attacks prevailing in the Cyberworld, but there are some common and attacks that e-commerce websites are prone to.

Given below is a list of attacks that E-Commerce sites:

SQL Injection

It is a process when the hackers inject an piece of malicious code in the SQL database.

If an e-commerce site uses the SQL database for storing its data, then it is vulnerable to such an attack, if the data is not secure enough.

Once the hackers gets hold of the sites database, they can easily manipulate the data, access other users data and even remove essential data.

Phishing

This cyber-crime is extremely vile as attackers target individuals via texts, emails, or phone calls. These attackers try to gather sensitive information such as bank account numbers, passwords, pin numbers, CVV's, etc. from their victims.

Malware:

Malware is malicious software (that includes viruses such as ransomware or spyware) that aims at harming your device, or network or any service.

Attackers even intend to access multiple systems to set up DOS or denial-of-service attacks over other networks. Also, corrupting systems help them stock cryptocurrencies or bitcoins.

E-Skimming or Magecart Attacks

It is a type of attack where attackers add an infectious code to retrieve customers' personal information and payment card information from the website's checkout pages.

This code seizes the credit card data while the user is adding the credit card info in real-time. Later on, attackers can use this information to make fraud purchases or activities.

Cross-Site Scripting (XSS)

This type of attack involves injecting a piece of harmful code (mostly javascript) into a webpage.

This attack target to affect users as it initiates as the users visit the webpage that runs the harmful code.

Security Measures: Eminent for Website Security

Its 2020, and e-commerce platforms are aspiring to mold themselves into becoming completely attack-free so that end-users do not encounter any malicious activities pertaining to the website.

In fact, it is the need of the hour as any fraudulent activity or exposure of customer information can adversely affect the brand's image.