4 Ways to Make Your E-Commerce Site More Secure

Online security has been a huge issue over the past couple years. To give you an idea, research from Symantec indicates that ransomware attacks increased by 36 percent worldwide throughout 2017.

In the changing e-commerce landscape, website security needs to be taken VERY seriously. Here are four ways your business can improve in this area:

1. Tighten up data security.

Last year, the Experian breach raised all sorts of concerns about identity theft and online data protection. Currently, website users everywhere are worried about their data being compromised, stolen or used without their consent. As e-commerce sites handle a plethora of sensitive information (e.g., names, addresses, phone numbers, financial information), they're getting hit quite hard with customer skepticism.

Sequentially, many e-commerce businesses are revamping their security measures. You can start by ensuring that your hosting platform is designed to handle long-term growth. Moreover, performance and security must be monitored constantly to be proactive against threats. The key is adopting a system that provides real-time data visualization into your security status. Tools like Code42 give you a historical view of all security events to identify risk factors before they become a problem.

2. Consider cryptocurrency.

Unless you’ve spent the last year living under a rock, you’ve probably heard something about cryptocurrency and blockchain. While there's certainly a mysterious factor attached to it, one of the major consumer benefits is the elimination of the need to input credit card or account numbers when making a purchase. Since blockchain is decentralized, cryptocurrency is significantly less vulnerable to hacks.

Due to this, some sites are adding cryptocurrency to their payment options. However, the mass adoption to accepting this type of currency is being limited by a number of technical challenges. Fortunately, programs like COTI are working to address these issues by providing necessary resources for consumers, such as wallets and a user-friendly exchange facility. On the merchant side, this includes processing tools to make the switch to cryptocurrency quick and smooth.

3. Be wary of bots.

While there are many bots working to make online life easier for everyone, there are plenty designed to steal data and insert malware as they crawl the web. Even though e-commerce companies may not be able to stop bots completely, there's a lot they can do to detect suspicious bot activity. For starters, you can limit the number of user requests your site allows. This is the best way to disable bots that behave differently than real web users. Additionally, you should invest in a system, like Shield Square, to identify bots and block them before they have a chance to crawl your e-commerce platform and steal valuable data.

4. Layer security measures.

As cyber threats increase, the more security layers your e-commerce site has, the better. Hopefully, you already have a firewall set up. This is your first line of defense against most attacks. From here, you can improve your site security with a content delivery network (CDN). A CDN spreads your content across several geographically diverse servers. CDN programs, such as StackPath, are designed to detect malicious traffic and prevent it from compromising your site.

E-commerce security is an issue that will not go away any time soon, unfortunately. The good news is if merchants invest in a bulletproof system, they can use this to improve customer confidence and, ultimately, create loyalty.

Display security badges on your homepage, write on-site blogs about your security measures, and be 100 percent transparent about your system. The most important thing is to keep customers in the loop.

Manish Dudharejia is the president and co-founder of E2M Solutions, a digital agency that specializes in website design and development, and e-commerce SEO.