E-commerce Boom – Safeguarding Customer Data in Your Online Store

When the pandemic struck, the e-commerce industry witnessed exponential growth, propelling online sales to new heights. Retailers who previously lacked an online presence suddenly had to hastily establish e-commerce shops to survive. The convenience of shopping from home for everything from gifts to essentials has led to a shift in customer preferences.

As a result, the majority of retailers will probably incorporate e-commerce into their business models moving forward. At the same time, concerns about e-commerce cybersecurity have increased. However, you can maintain privacy in e-commerce for your customers’ data if you follow basic rules.

Tips for e-commerce protecting customer data

#1 Focus only on important data

You might feel compelled to thoroughly understand your customers for marketing and sales purposes, leading you to request excessive information during registration or purchasing. However, requesting too much information can discourage customers from completing the purchase and expose their data to potential hacker attacks.

Excessive data collection often compromises customers’ data security. To prevent potential hacker attacks and safeguard sensitive data, only collect necessary information during registration and purchase. Therefore, refrain from gathering unnecessary data that may expose customers to threats and jeopardize their security.

#2 Use strong secure systems of authentication

To protect your customers’ data from theft or hacking, strengthen your security systems. Today’s technology offers various integration options to enhance security on your e-commerce site. For instance, during registration or purchase, you can require your clients to enter passwords with a minimum length, special characters, and numbers, using a strong password generator.

Additionally, implement extra security measures like two-factor authentication. This requires users to enter their password and then authenticate their access using another device or tool, such as a smartphone.

#3 Integrate VPN usage practices

Do your business employees use VPNs? If not, then you are putting your customers’ data at risk and it is only a matter of time before the risk materializes. If you download a VPN for your PC, you can prevent data leaks associated with remote workers. In particular, if you download VeePN for PC you will receive military-grade encryption when transferring data. VeePN also has protection against data theft, disclosure of IP and DNS addresses, protection against phishing and viruses.

These arguments are enough to install a VPN on a PC. However, it is wiser to use VPN apps on all available devices. Moreover, such an opportunity exists.

#4 Thorough testing

As threats and hacking tactics evolve, IT environments and security systems undergo constant changes. To safeguard against possible exploits, it is crucial for you to test your data protection solution after implementing new solutions or updating workflows. Create a testing checklist that emphasizes critical security points and only apply updates to production once you have ensured they offer the necessary data protection.

#5 Data encryption

When you want to ensure the security of online transactions and e-commerce data, encrypting the information is the most straightforward solution. Nowadays, if you leave your data unencrypted, you willingly expose your records to a third party. You should encrypt your data both during transfer (“in flight”) and throughout its retention period (“at rest”).

#6 Transition to a mesh architecture

You should transition cybersecurity strategies to a mesh architecture to minimize vulnerability. A mesh architecture for cybersecurity provides a scalable and interoperable service based on identity, enabling a security approach that extends across the foundation of IT services. The common integrated structure secures all assets, regardless of their location.

#7 HTTPS system integration

When you visit a non-HTTPS website, you receive a security risk notification. This warning prevents you from trusting the website and may lead you to leave without returning. As a result, you may experience a loss in potential purchases, conversions, and website traffic.

Additionally, Google regards non-HTTPS sites as insecure, which causes them to rank lower in search results, reducing the exposure of your website. Failure to comply with the PCI-DSS rules for your website and business can have these potential implications.

#8 Limit access to sensitive data

If you own a large company, you may feel tempted to grant all employees, including yourself, internal access to and the ability to share customer data. However, doing so could compromise data security, allowing unauthorized individuals to acquire sensitive information. This, in turn, could lead to severe financial and legal repercussions for your organization.

To avoid such undesirable outcomes, consider limiting access to sensitive data to a single person or department, depending on the company’s size. Enforcing this practice will safeguard your organization and customers by preventing mishandling and improper sharing of sensitive information.

#9 Employ automated testing solutions

To prioritize the protection of customer data, organizations must adopt a proactive and threat-informed approach to their security strategy. Companies should employ automated solutions that enable security teams to continuously test the effectiveness of their security controls and ensure they are working to protect customer data as expected.

Conclusion

Protecting customer data should be a priority. Otherwise, you risk undermining user trust in your business, as well as your search engine rankings. You cannot guarantee safety if you do not move in this direction. The sooner you start, the more durable your business will be and the more resilient it will be to modern challenges.