Improve online security and protect your customers’ data

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Keeping customers safe and secure online has always been an important consideration for eCommerce businesses. As the industry grows and people make more online purchases, digital stores hold larger amounts of sensitive data. The big things, such as SSL certificates to ensure your online payment gateway is protected, are well covered in a range of blogs about security, but what about the less obvious aspects?

There are things behind the scenes that customers will be completely oblivious to as they aren’t shown at the user end. When a SSL certificate is expired or missing, the visitor gets a big warning to ensure they understand the risk they are taking if they proceed. While this is vital, it is more of a conversion factor than a security issue as most people won’t buy from an unprotected site. Below are some aspects that your customers will be unaware of but could leave your business in a compromising position.

Passwords

The passwords to your backend system are more important than the user end ones. Generally, gaining access to a customer account won’t reveal the credit card details stored on a system and the most a person could do is order some products. However, on the administrative side of the platform, the potential to cause damage and steal digital information is much larger.

Use a password manager and computer generated passwords to make sure your admin account is secure. This system will ensure you always have a strong password, with unique ones for each user account and website, without making you remember a string of random characters.

Also, add two-step authentication to make sure that you are the only one trying to access your accounts. The added benefit of this is that you will know when someone has cracked your password and is attempting to access your account.

Encryptions

Encrypting your devices is also important as it will prevent someone from gaining access to your site through the saved passwords on the computer, phone or tablet itself. Ensure your phones and tablets have access codes activated, and either enable FileVault on your Mac or download one of the many free and paid options available for PC. This level of protection will ensure that even if your devices are stolen, your passwords and sensitive business information is still secure.

Software

An important factor in ensuring your backend security is up to scratch is keeping your software up to date. Both Windows and OSX release patches and updates periodically for their users to install and keep their system safe. Firefox and Chrome browsers both have automatic updates, and Adobe and Java send out update requests as needed. It is important to ensure your computers have the latest version of the software as the developers at these companies are always working to react to new threats and mitigate the chances of a problem occurring.

Out of sight, but not out of mind

Users are becoming savvier about security. As the population ages and the digital native demographic becomes the key audience these people will have security foremost in their minds when using eCommerce sites, and not simply the things they can see. Leaving your administrative systems’ security to chance could leave your business in a compromising position and possibly lead to legal ramifications. Keeping up to date and secure can be as simple as making it a part of your business processes and policies.

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