Unfortunately, online shopping and fraud go together like peanut butter and jelly. As the owner of an ecommerce store, it should be your number one priority to do everything you can to minimize the chances that you will become the next unwitting victim of digital crime. Implementing secure payment processing with enhanced data protection and other tools will help to keep both you and your customers safe from the numerous negative consequences of security breaches.

Why is cybersecurity important for a small business?

You know better than anyone how many costs are involved in starting and running your own business. With that in mind, it’s understandable that many entrepreneurs choose to put digital safety on the back burner, only relegating a tiny bit of their budget to its enforcement. The reasoning is that their store is insignificant as compared to richer, larger sellers.

However, reality tells a different tale. According to some estimates, more than 10,000 small businesses are targeted by hackers every day, and the consequences can be grave. 

• The compromise of customers’ sensitive personal and payment details.
• Falling out of compliance with data protection and consumer privacy rules.
• Potential loss of money. This is particularly seen when ransom attacks occur that require a business owner to pay the hackers before they can regain access to the information on their own website.

Less tangible but just as important, merchants victimized by digital criminals experience a great deal of stress due to the situation and frequently must devote a great deal of time and resources to extricate themselves. For these reasons, taking preventative steps whenever possible is the way to go.

Keep systems and hardware updated.

Speaking of things that get pushed to the bottom of the to-do list, let’s talk about the importance of maintaining your cyber infrastructure. By seeing that all desktops, laptops, phones, and third-party devices used throughout your business are regularly updated, you will be ensuring that the most recent security patches are installed.

To make this happen, set aside one evening a week for a tech audit. Additionally, turn the automatic updates feature on for all company-owned systems, and emphasize the importance of enhanced data protection to your staff and their supervisors.

Implement ongoing worker education and training.

IT literacy is one of the best safeguards against hackers. This is because the majority of data breaches occur due to either employee negligence or phishing attacks that use deceptive emails to fool the unwary into clicking on links that allow criminals to gain entry into a business’s systems.

Training should be updated regularly to reflect changes in the security landscape, and it should be provided to staff members at all levels. Focus on how phishing attacks are launched, warning your employees to refrain from clicking on unfamiliar links — even if they are sent by a trustworthy person or appear to come from a known company. Set up protocols that allow workers to contact one of your team members if they suspect malware or phishing, and be sure they understand how to implement secure payment processing. For example, point out red flags that could signal fraud, including multiple high-ticket purchases, shipping and billing addresses that don’t match, etc.

Install anti-virus and firewall software.

These systems are designed to protect your cybersecurity perimeter. Antivirus software detects and neutralizes any threats to your hardware that it finds, protecting you from most browser hijackers and helper objects, keyloggers, ransomware, trojan horses, rootkits, backdoors, worms, fraud tools, spyware, and more.

A firewall works in tandem with anti-virus programs to safeguard your network by monitoring incoming and outgoing traffic. If it deems something to be suspicious, it can block it, keeping it from harming your systems.

Make logins and approvals safer.

Weak passwords are one of the easiest ways for hackers to usurp your systems. Implementing multi-factor authentication might cause some grumbling among your employees but it can go a long way toward tightening up your systems and preventing unauthorized entry.

Once it is set up, a person who is logging onto their work computer would enter their password and then receive a one-time passcode on their phone. They would only gain entrance once they had completed both steps.

Additionally, you will probably want to restrict access to certain files and systems in your back office. For instance, not everyone needs permission to get into your financials. Strong access management helps to ensure that these details are only available on a need-to-know basis.

Don’t use public wifi.

Unless you help your employees to get set up with a virtual private network (VPN), your network should be the only vehicle that they use when on the job or doing work from home. As part of your cyber policy, you should seriously consider totally prohibiting staff from accessing work systems or files if they are using public wifi. This includes networks on public transportation, in cafes, at airports, and in communal work sites.

Perform regular data backups.

At some point in your life as a student, consumer, or employee, you have probably lost an important document that disappeared forever due to a power failure or technological glitch. If you had only saved it every few minutes or turned on the auto-save feature, you might have avoided hours of recovery time.

The same is true when it comes to protecting your data. As part of your weekly tech audit, be sure that you back up all of your files and systems. Don’t just do so on your own computer; store your data in the cloud, online, or physically in a separate location. With strong backup procedures in place, you can quickly be up and running even after a heavy ransomware attack.

Require the creation of strong passwords.

As inconvenient as we all know it to be, it is vital that you and everyone else in your business make passwords that are not easily hacked and include some or all of the following preventative measures. 

• Have more than eight characters.
• Include at least one number and one symbol.
• Include one capital letter.
• Must be changed at least every six months.

The best-case scenario is to use only passwords made from random series of letters, symbols, and digits. Fortunately, there is free software that you can download to make this process both easy and accessible to all.

As the above security tactics demonstrate, data safety does not necessarily need to be expensive or overly complicated. Many of these strategies have more to do with ongoing vigilance and attention to detail. As a savvy business owner who understands the importance of safeguarding your customers and your internal infrastructures, it is in your best interests to thoroughly examine all of the tools and protocols you now have in place, modernizing, enhancing, and upgrading them where necessary as preemptive protection. In other words, don’t allow your ecommerce store to be one of those tempting pieces of low-hanging fruit that are so beloved and exploited by cybercriminals.