Ecommerce, or online stores as we call them, has pushed horizons for businesses globally. According to Statista, by the end of 2019, the global eCommerce market reached $3.5 billion in sales and captured 14% of all retail sales. This sale has been predicted to even surpass $6 billion by the end of 2020 and makeup to 16% of total retail sales.
It’s not hard to deduce from these numbers that ecommerce is advancing on a vast scale too quickly. The numbers are really exhilarating. No wonder that the eCommerce market grabbed the eye of the bad players. And ecommerce frauds pick up soon after.
It’s almost shocking to know that ecommerce frauds grew at a rate of 30% in 2017. Twice as fast as the rate of eCommerce sales that year.
Source: identiv.com
It is, thus, essential that you understand the various types of online threats that could affect your business and learn to protect your web store from them.
To help you with that, I present before you the common ecommerce frauds that are popular with hackers and ways you can check them. But first, let’s understand the very elementary question – What exactly constitutes ecommerce security?
Ecommerce security is a combination of technology and human intervention that can be utilized for the betterment of security standards of an online store & website.
To protect your website, you need to incorporate various elements of ecommerce security, which are – merchant account protection, shopping cart protection, server protection, customer account protection, credit card protection, payment security, payment gateway protection, e-mail delivery protection, database protection, web hosting security, and so on.
Securing these aspects is crucial to protect both your business and your customer on the web.
Moving on. We have been seeing a constant rise in the ecommerce frauds by the day. In fact, according to Nilson Reports from 2015 and 2016, ecommerce frauds rose by an astonishing 500%! Further, there were a couple of ZIP codes identified by Experian which were the center for these frauds. Here’s the list of those ZIP codes:
Source: Experian
Need I tell you? Beware of the freebies, gift cards, lucky draw emails that may land in your inbox from these ZIP codes.
Besides, being a little vigilant, you must also gauge the threat that lingers over your online store.
I am listing the 5 most common but pervasive eCommerce frauds that are on the rise:
1- Credit – card fraud
Over 80% of all credit card frauds were executed on an online store. To define plainly, stealing people’s credit card data and misusing them to purchase anything online is called eCommerce credit card fraud.
2- Chargeback frauds
Chargeback frauds are those when a customer demands a refund for by faking a defected/missing product or incompetent services from an eCommerce. Right now, chargeback frauds are a huge challenge for eCommerce around the globe. Companies have come up with various methods to curb this, such as – signature on delivery, images of defected pieces, stricter exchange and refund policies, etc.
3- Data Theft
Who has forgotten the infamous data breach that exposed millions and millions of customer’s personal & financial data in the Marriott International chain. Hackers survive on data and the eCommerce industry is an unmined ore before them. To divert any such attempt, you must comply with the PCI-DSS guideline that suggests – not storing customer’s data on your server.
4- Malware, virus, worms, spyware, ransomware
Another massive threat vector on the web is Malware. Any malware, virus, worms, spyware, ransomware, adware, trojan horse that hijacks your web system or its supplementary assets is something to beware of. An efficient anti-malware solution is a great way to keep these problems at bay.
1- Merchant & Customer account protection
It is intended to secure the funds that you are planning to send to your customers. There are two ways that you can use to achieve this. One is to set up a merchant account on your own and one is to use the services of a third-party payment processing company. They will verify that the money is safe and that all the transactions that have been processed on the website are secure.
For customer’s data protection, avoid storing data on your own server. Additionally having encrypted data transfer also helps. For account authentication, use security measures such as multi-factor authentication, limited login attempts, access restriction from multiple IPs or geo-locations.
2- Payment Security
Payment security is another element that you should implement on your store. It includes credit card protection as well as virus and spyware protection. This is designed to thwart those who wish to do damage to your business through the use of this particular channel. It also includes a better identification of genuine credit cards by verifying the CVV and billing address attached to a card. Further, expiration dates can also be set for your credit cards. A virus and spyware software will protect your operating system from those who wish to steal your information and do damage to your site.
3- Data Storage and Protection
The first step in website security is to take steps to secure the credit card numbers that you use to process payments. This is especially important when you are processing payments over the Internet. It is possible to use a secured server to process these payments but that can be quite expensive.
4- Server Protection and data encryption
Another important element in website security is also the use of secure servers. When your website is using a local or shared server, you are not protected from hackers. However, when you use a managed server or VPN, you will be able to avoid any online threats that might compromise your website.
You should also make sure that you properly encrypt the information. This is particularly important if the information you are using is sensitive. Getting an SSL certificate for your website can help you with this. Encrypting data transfer on your website can discourage any middle-man attacks that might be lurking around the corner.
For this, I would suggest that you go for a managed WooCommerce hosting provider because it comes with all the security protocols along with a secure cloud server.
5- Transaction Monitoring
Also, keep a tab of the transactions made on your store. Generally, buyers tend to have a pattern. If a transaction deviates a lot from that normal pattern, it could be a fraud transaction. While monitoring transactions, check for the billing address, the card used, etc. It can help you identify a hacker from an authentic customer.
6- Getting a Security Solution
At last, get a solution that is bundled with a multitude of security tools. Astra Security Suite comes with a wide range of security tools such as a firewall, malware scanner, IP blocking, Country blocking, one-click malware removal, that it is practically easy to maintain and manage your store’s security.
Other than the web system, securing the hardware is equally important. Install anti-virus for other software, operating systems, that you shall be using to access and operate your store. By installing this software you will greatly reduce any possibility of an attack on your business.
Conclusion
Implementing these security measures into your store means that you are not leaving anything to chance. If you have the necessary infrastructure to handle transactions, you will not be responsible for the losses incurred by hackers. In addition to that, there are many high-quality protection programs available today that you can use to help protect your eCommerce business.
Disclaimer: This is a guest post by GetAstra. The opinions and ideas expressed herein are the author’s own, and in no way reflects Cloudways position.
Convert Traffic into Buyers with Managed Ecommerce Hosting
See your business grow without worrying about server management!
Saud Razzak
Saud is the WordPress Community Manager at Cloudways – A Managed WooCommerce Hosting Platform. Saud is responsible for creating buzz, spread knowledge, and educate the people about WordPress in the Community around the globe. In his free time, he likes to play cricket and learn new things on the Internet. You can email him at [email protected]
Keep reading the article at The Official Cloudways Blog. The article was originally written by Saud Razzak on 2020-03-31 07:32:03.
The article was hand-picked and curated for you by the Editorial Team of WP Archives.