How Can You Make Your Online Store More Secure?

Featured article by Stephanie Charles, Independent Technology Author

Adding an online store to any home business is an exciting milestone. With your own online store, the chances of making some serious cash increase precipitously. However, if you don’t take security seriously, it will come back to haunt you.

Choose Your Host Carefully

For any online retailer, security needs to be a priority. In a brick and mortar shop, there are a variety of methods that retailers employ to guard against theft and malicious intrusions. For example, you wouldn’t want to set up your shop inside a building that didn’t have a front door. Similarly, when you are choosing where to host your website, you need to constantly be mindful of the security credentials of the host you are considering.

You should research any host before you commit to them. Make sure that they are a hosting service with a reputation for good security and for reliable service. Usually, the hosting services who are most serious about security will put their security credentials front and center of their ‘pitch’.

Password Protection

To return to the analogy of the brick and mortar shop, you want to ensure that the lock you place on the shop is capable of keeping it safe and secure. When you are devising security for your online store, you want to use a password that is going to be safe from being guessed or cracked. Fortunately, this is much easier than you think.

In addition to ensuring that your passwords are all secure, you should also encourage your customers to behave in a more security conscious way. Businesses that put their customer’s security first, and which actively help them to achieve and maintain good security, tend to do better overall. For example, many online casinos, who have traditionally been excellent at providing customer security, allow their customers to purchase credits to use when playing. This allows the user to make a one-off purchase with their credit card. The information does not have to be saved and, therefore, there is nothing for a potential hacker to steal.

Put up a Strong Firewall

Your firewall is your first line of defense against cyber intruders. A firewall should easily stop all the most basic types of attack and intrusions that your systems are likely to face. A firewall can be software or hardware-based. It is designed to act like a membrane between two networks, only allowing approved connections to form.

For an e-commerce site to not have a firewall would be like a warehouse not having any doors. If your business were to be the victim of a cyber intrusion, and it transpired that there was no firewall in place, it would be highly embarrassing for your business.

An online store can form the basis of a very lucrative business if you manage it and nurture it in the right way. However, if you don’t invest in good security for your e-commerce shop, it could end up being nothing more than an expensive misstep. In addition to the above advice, look into two-factor authentication, and research the other security techniques that are out there.