While it certainly depends on the nature of the business, one of the few silver linings to the COVID-19 epidemic is an increase in online sales for many companies. With higher sales comes a greater need for cyber security, and if you manage your own security, this is an important time to double check a few things and even add some new measures to ensure you and your customers’ information doesn’t fall into the wrong hands.
Whether it’s just a season in which your business has a usual uptick, or a situation like the coronavirus that results in an increase in web-based sales, these steps will help ensure the security of your transactions.
Stay Current
What is safe for your company today may not be safe tomorrow, so be sure to always be reading up on new trends and issues in ecommerce security. You’re probably familiar with the term Internet of Things (IoT), which pertains to the internet itself, and every device that can access the internet. With the exponential growth that occurs every day in the device world (smartphones, tablets, etc.), understanding how to protect your website in every corner of the IoT is a task that requires a constant intake of new information.
Don’t Think You’re Too Small
Although large-scale operations certainly can equate to large-scale paydays for hackers, hackers also know that those operations are probably shelling out large portions of what would otherwise be profits to ensure the security of their ecommerce. Because of this, many hackers look at smaller online businesses as low hanging fruit.
In addition to human hackers, and in fact an even bigger threat, are automated attacks. These types of attacks don’t care how large your operation is, they are just programs that search websites to see which ones aren’t up-to-date on cyber security and they hack the sites’ information when they find them.
Inform Your Staff
Putting barriers in place and taking precautionary steps for cyber security like the ones listed above become moot if you don’t have a team of employees who know how to ensure security measures are taken every day. There are most likely areas of your web business that have limited access, and taking extra caution regarding the amount of access to those areas (normally those holding financial information) starts with routinely informing those members of your staff to do the simple-but-important tasks of changing passwords and always logging out of those areas after accessing them.
Inform Your Customers
Informing your customers of your ecommerce security measures is a three-fold strategy that is a must in today’s ecommerce world. First, it will help your business. Many buyers are very cautious of where they share their credit card information on the internet, and if your site makes it very clear that your information is as secure as secure can be, they will trust their purchase. Second, human hackers can see this and just like a camera outside of a store, it will deter them from targeting your business. Last, it also is another reason for you, the one responsible for the web security, to stay current!
Even if you’re someone who outsources for the majority of their cyber security needs, these tips are need-to-knows for anyone running a website that has financial transactions. Arm yourself with the best and most current software, update often, and let both your staff and customers know how serious you are about protecting the information that is transferred on your website and you’re setting yourself up for success in the difficult task that is staying ahead of the hacker community.
