If you have an online business with shop options, you have an e-commerce site. Having an e-commerce site is great because it allows you to make money online. Unfortunately, doing anything online means that it isn’t completely secure—especially when it comes to e-commerce security. There will be hackers and thieves all over the internet, so you need ways to protect your e-commerce site. Here are a few tips to improve website security.
E-commerce Security Tips
Use strong passwords
E-commerce security begins with the login. The password is your magic word, the “open sesame” of websites, so coming up with something clever and completely original will greatly benefit you. Most websites have password requirements like at least one uppercase, at least one lowercase, at least one symbol, at least one number and must be at least eight characters long.
Quite frankly, that’s the bare minimum, and for e-commerce websites, it should be a lot more complicated than that. Use a lot of numbers mixed in with letters. Let’s say it’s eight characters long and includes letters and numbers, but no words or obvious clues: that would mean that there are over 400 trillion password combinations possible. That would take nearly three days of continuous trial and error to crack the code!
DDoS protection
Distributed Denial of Service, or DDoS attacks, are when a website’s access is blocked by a couple of different things. Firstly, a virus is sent to multiple sources used by the website. Secondly, the website server is flooded by bot users to effectively “crash” the site, making it nearly impossible to stop the viral attack. They’re pretty easy to orchestrate but are incredibly effective in shutting down sites.
This could happen to any site at any time, so it’s time to up the e-commerce security ante with a DDoS mitigation service. What that does is detect when users are real users versus bots designed to crash your site. This is especially necessary during the holiday season when websites often DDoS attack their competitors.
Keep sensitive info off your site
If it’s on your site, hackers can take it. That’s why it’s good to know what kind of information to keep out of view of prying eyes. When you have an e-commerce site where customers will put in their card and personal information, they can be vulnerable when if your site gets hacked. That is why it’s important to encrypt. Here’s how to secure a website with the PCI standard.
The goal is to keep as little information on your site as possible. Can’t steal what isn’t there basically. What you hold on to, encrypt encrypt encrypt. Probably the easiest way to stay secure is to use a third-party hosted payment program like Pay Pal. They’re excellent for that sort of thing.
WordPress and e-commerce
For the best e-commerce security options, choose a web hosting service that included a bunch of different security plugins, like Woocommerce. WordPress does e-commerce security right. WordPress is perfect for small online stores to big; the only factor is you. A WordPress hosted e-commerce site has the necessary security tools to keep your online store safe and secure.
Let Mvestor Host Your Online Store
Las Vegas’s web design geniuses Mvestor Media can host your e-commerce site. We have the tools and the training to make your online store very safe and secure, using WordPress to host your site. Connect with us today to get started on your online business venture.