Over the past decade, people have exponentially increased the degree to which they make most of their purchases online. The natural consequence of this is that a much higher volume of consumer data exists online now than in past years. This has caught the attention and become the main focus of threat actors such as hackers, whose methods of obtaining this data have become increasingly complex and harder to detect over time.
At The Baran Agency, we believe it’s important for online businesses to be aware of the most frequent and pressing threats to their customers’ data and privacy. We also believe it’s equally important for business owners to know the online retail cybersecurity solutions that are available to them to mitigate these threats. We’ve written previously on our blog about the value of cybersecurity to small businesses.
In this post, we’ll focus on some of the typical threats an online retail business may face and the kinds of steps they can take to combat them.
There are four particularly common and significant cybersecurity threats which every online retailer should be aware of.
Phishing: Typically taking place through email, this type of threat can trick your employee into clicking a link or downloading an attachment which installs malicious software onto a computer. If this happens to a customer or employee, the hacker may gain access to sensitive information about one or several customers or employees. This information may be used to commit fraud or be sold to unknown third parties.
Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS): This attack overwhelms your server with a high volume of requests, making it inaccessible to your customers by severely slowing or shutting it down.
Man-in-the-middle: This essentially allows a threat actor to view a customer’s communications with your server, as well as potentially every page they’re visiting. This can allow them to view and steal a customer’s personal and credit card information.
Malware: Threat actors who have gained access to your site can insert this software into its pages, using it to redirect users to another URL, insert pop-ups, and/or capture sensitive customer or company information.
Despite the various threats posed to your online business and data, there are several methods you utilize to protect them.
Choosing a secure platform: From the beginning, you should look to host your e-commerce store on a platform compliant with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard. It’s also helpful if you can integrate anti-phishing tools like multifactor authentication to add an additional layer of security.
Network segmentation: This method allows you to monitor segments of your network for suspicious activity and movements which may indicate a data breach.
Malware protection: A malware protection program should be running across your entire online retail network.
Cybersecurity awareness: It’s essential to stay up to date with the latest in new cybersecurity threats and online retail cybersecurity solutions so that you know which risks to your business’ data are most pressing and which solutions are most promising for dealing with those threats.
It may also be worthwhile for you to employ the services of a cybersecurity specialist for your online store. An expert like this has made it their career to find threats to websites and networks like yours, as well as the most effective ways to combat those threats. This can take your mind off of worrying about those threats yourself and allow you to focus more on running your business effectively.
Whether you’re looking for cybersecurity training or expert help eliminating threats to your and your customers’ data, The Baran Agency has the expertise you’re looking for. Contact us now for a free consultation and find out more about the essential online retail cybersecurity solutions available to you now.
