The Importance of Cybersecurity when Dealing with Customers Online

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With the continuous rise of data breaches, cybersecurity has become the most significant feature of ecommerce.
Unfortunately, most businesses don’t understand that yet.

The KMPG report says that 51% of small businesses believe that no one would go after them.
That’s exactly what makes them an easy target.

Not investing in the right cybersecurity technologies and measures, they put both themselves and their customers at risk.

So, what are the consequences of a cyberattack?

Most importantly, is there a way to minimize the risks and prevent these problems from happening on time?
Let’s find out!


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Why is Cybersecurity Critical for Online Retailers?

Becoming a victim of a cyberattack is terrible itself.

Unfortunately, it usually triggers numerous unexpected issues that may hurt your online business on multiple levels. Here are some of the most common problems you may face.

First, it hurts your brand image. It may take you years to build a trusted and reliable brand. Unfortunately, an online breach may ruin your reputation in a matter of seconds. Once they realize that their most precious data is not safe with you, your customers will decide to leave you and look for a more trustworthy alternative. Worse yet, with a lot of negative press created around you and a bunch of your customers leaving you, regaining your impeccable online image would be almost impossible.

Second, a hack affects your bottom line. Apart from losing your customers, you will also have to cover the rising costs of a cyberattack, such as your customer notification and even potential legal judgments. These expenses are immense and the chances are that your online business won’t be able to cope with them. This is exactly one of the main reasons why the majority of small businesses don’t manage to survive a hack.

The Most Common Types of Ecommerce Cyberattacks

When it comes to ecommerce security risks, there is no uniform rule that could be applied to all sites. These security issues can be triggered accidentally, intentionally or be caused by a human error. Based on their cause and aim, there are several popular types of ecommerce cyberattacks.

Phishing attacks target sensitive user data, such as usernames, credit card information, or login credentials. Here, an online hacker aims to trick a victim into believing that the email or a message they received is something relevant to them.

Credit card fraud targets your customers’ credit card information. Namely, within your site, there are numerous vulnerable sports and hackers can identify them easily. They use these areas as intrusion points to obtain payment and user information. The idea behind this is simple- a malware extracts as much information as possible, which is later sold on black markets.

How to Protect your Ecommerce Site?

With the rise of cybersecurity technologies, online hacks have become more sophisticated. They have become extremely intelligent, being able to infect your system and spread through it at an astonishing rate, without you even noticing it.

So, the question is- how to strengthen your ecommerce site’s security?

  • Choose an ecommerce platform that has multi-layered security.
  • Invest in SSL certificates to facilitate a secure connection. These certificates make sure that the connection between your user’s browser and your server remains safe. As the data they leave on your site is encrypted, even if hackers intercept them while they’re traveling, they won’t be able to decrypt it. As HTTPS has become a ranking signal, switching to SSL will also boost your rankings, online credibility, and brand image.
  • Do regular PCI scans and updates to prevent new vulnerabilities to viruses and malware.
  • Leverage an Address Verification System to compare your customer’s billing address to the one a credit card issuer has.
  • Require your customers to choose stronger passwords with capitalization and at least one special character.
  • Make sure your hosting provider is PCI-compliant, meaning that they have strict rules that guarantee the ultimate safety to your customers. Some of these measures are strong anti-virus software, encryption, regular monitoring, and risk analysis.

Over to You

Always keep in mind that a hacker doesn’t have to have a good reason to hack you.
Knowing that there are numerous sites that are lacking a solid cybersecurity plan, hackers tend to target low-fruit.

So, don’t allow to become their easy target.

Instead, move to HTTPS, use reliable anti-malware software, and choose a trusted hosting provider. You should constantly raise your employees’ awareness of the major cybersecurity problems and teach them how to overcome them effortlessly.

Most importantly, by making your site safer for your customers, you will manage to build stronger relationships with them, based on trust.

Nate Vickery, Msc
Nate Vickery is a business technology expert and a futurist mostly engaged in finding and implementation of the latest technology trends into SMB and startups management and marketing processes. Nate is also the editor-in-chief at business oriented blog- Bizzmarkblog.com.

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