How to Stay Safe as an Online Merchant

If you’re selling products online – whether that’s on social media, through a marketplace or your own store – get to know the basic behaviors of eCommerce safety: monitoring, updating and revising. Here are some strategies to help you stay safe as a seller and protect your customers. Invest in a Secure Web Environment

The platform you use will have a big impact on your web security; make sure you go for a sophisticated one with a proven security track record. Once you decide on a solution, don’t just settle for its default security settings — customize it with plugins, packages and/or tools that enhance your security wherever possible.

Put up Firewalls and Security Layers

Short of buying more bandwidth, firewalls are your best bet when it comes to preventing denial of service or distributed denial of service attacks (DDoS: where hackers attempt to flood your system and crash your site). Penetration testing can help unearth any issues.

Update Frequently

Staying on top of web updates is key — they will keep your store safe and functioning correctly. Update your SSL certificates — they expire and need regular updating.

Get Clued up on Payment Security

Storing people’s credit card and payment details is one of your most important jobs as an online merchant. Use adequate encryption and SSL certificates. Always verify card and address details to reduce the risk of fraudulent transactions. Geo-targeting can also help eliminate these transactions.

Manage your data safely

Storing customer data is a big responsibility — don’t take it lightly and don’t mess with the trust they have placed in you. Purge customer data frequently and don’t store any more data than you have to. Consider integrating with mobile payments for customer convenience and improved security.

Backups, Backups, Backups!

Backups will save your life if something goes wrong — so make sure that you test them regularly (and that they actually work). You need to test your backup system and ensure that you can actually restore your site and data from it.

Source: Patrick Foster

The Essential Cybersecurity Guide to Protecting Your Business

Two-thirds of large businesses have experienced a data breach in the last year, and nearly half of small and midsized businesses (SMBs) have been the victim of a cyber attack. With the increase in cyber breaches, the National Institute of Standards and Technology established a framework in 2013 for reducing risks to the nation’s critical infrastructure. The framework takes a “best practice” approach to analyzing and mitigating risks and recommends five steps that any sized company can take for addressing cyber threats.The five steps are:

  • Identify: Inventory your most valuable assets, the “crown jewels” that are of greatest importance to your business and would be most valuable to criminals, such as employee, customer and payment data.
  • Protect: Assess what protective measures you need to have in place to be as defended as possible against a cyber incident.
  • Detect: Have systems in place that would alert you if an incident occurs, including the ability for employees to report problems.
  • Respond: Make and practice an incidence response plan to contain an attack and maintain business operations in the short-term.
  • Recover: Know what to do to return to normal business operations after an incident or breach, including assessing any legal obligations.

On a day-to-day basis, businesses can improve their online safety practices by following these four tips:

1. Keep a clean machine Having the latest security software, web browser and operating system in your business are the best defenses against viruses, malware and other online threats.

2. Protect information Secure accounts by adding two-factor authentication and making passwords long, strong and unique.

3. Protect the company’s online reputation Set security and privacy settings to your comfort level of sharing.

4. Educate employees Teach your employees basic best practices. For example, if an email, social network post or text message looks suspicious—even if you know the source—delete it.

Many SMBs are increasingly vulnerable to cyber attacks. All businesses should focus on creating a culture of cybersecurity and keep protecting the company top of mind for employees.

Source: NCSA