Do you have an e-commerce website and you’ve been looking for some ideas or tips to secure it?
Or are you planning to build a secure e-commerce store?
Whichever the case, this blog post will help you.
Undoubtedly, building eCommerce has become much more affordable & convenient. But what about the security of the website?
Most webmasters and web developers just focus on creating a website that’s functional. Nothing beyond it.
But when they experience critical security issues like malware injections & virus infections and sometimes even worst, website hacking, then they start realizing the importance of security.
Why should you wait for the adverse situations to get protected when you can do it now?
Here, in this blog post, we have shared 7 ways in which you can secure your e-commerce website.
Let’s discover.
#1 Choosing a reliable platform
If you are still in midst of choosing a platform to create your e-commerce website, you must ensure to choose a reliable platform. A platform that’s robust, easy to use, and secure.
Here are some of the best & reliable CMS software/platforms to build an e-commerce store:
- WordPress (WooCommerce)
- Magento
- Shopify
- OpenCart
- Drupal
Among the above e-commerce development platforms, WordPress is one of the most popular & affordable CMS platforms.
WooCommerce is among the best eCommerce plugins for any WordPress website that can be used to build an online store quickly & hassle-free.
Recommended post: The best 4 CMS platforms to create an eCommerce website
#2 Securing admin credentials
All of the CMS platforms like WordPress & Drupal have a convenient way of creating admin details like login URL, username, and password.
For example, when you use WordPress for your website development, the default admin URL of your website will be Sitename/wp-admin/, and the username will be admin by default too.
Leaving default admin credentials as they are, is one of the biggest mistakes that you could make on your website. Because the hackers know how to enter your website’s admin area and use the default username. Now they just need to guess the password.
What’s the solution here?
The default admin credentials must be changed to something that’s hard for the hackers to guess. You can hire a professional website developer who can help you to do this.
Recommended post: 7 Best ways to secure your eCommerce website
#3 Using SSL
SSL (Secure Socket Layers) is a standard technology for establishing an encrypted link between a server (website) and a client (users). SSL helps you to encrypt the information on your website that passes through the links when the request is made by the users.
There are 2 major benefits of using SSL for your website:
- Your website gets an additional security layer.
- Your website gets an opportunity to secure noticeable positions on search engines. SSL has become one of the prerequisites for SEO.
#4 Avoiding storing confidential information
How do you accept online payments from your customers? Do you use PayPal or any other 3rd party payment gateway? If that’s the case, you do not need to store confidential information of your customers (like credit card numbers, expiry dates, etc.) on your website.
When you don’t have any confidential information on your website, you are not at any risk of a security breach.
#5 Using security plugins
No matter which CMS platform you are using, you will find plenty of security plugins and modules to protect your website.
For instance, if you are using WordPress for your website development, there are many great security plugins such as “All in one WP security” that help you to secure your website.
The “All in one WP security” can help your WooCommerce website to:
- Set up a firewall
- Change the default admin URL and username
- Protect critical files on your server
- & more
#6 Updating software & plugins
E-commerce website development is not a one-time thing. You can’t set it up, shut it and forget it. You do need to maintain your website regularly. And one of the most important activities to maintain any website is to update its software, plugins, and theme.
In the absence of regular maintenance, your e-commerce website may be prone to potential security threats like hacking & malware injections.
Although updating any plugin or theme is just a click job, we still suggest hiring an experienced web developer to do this.
Some of the plugins may cause issues on your website after they are upgraded. If you still want to do it yourself, you must ensure to back up your website first.
#7 Adhering to best practices
There are some other best practices that you can follow in order to have better security for your website, some of them are:
- Engaging a web developer for regular website maintenance. If you don’t have enough budget, you can also consider hiring Indian web developers who can help you to maintain your website at a much more affordable cost.
- Take regular backups.
- Ensuring that all the passwords such as Control panel, FTP, admin, etc. are strong.
- Integrate Google Webmasters Tool with your website to get regular updates on your website’s health.
- In case of any doubt, use an online tool like http://sitecheck.sucuri.net/ to check if your website is hacked or infected.
