The advent of e-commerce has revolutionized the way consumers interact and purchase goods and services. Online shopping has made customers’ life easier by providing them with a wide range of options from the comfort of their homes.
At the same time, it has posed significant challenges for businesses, such as those involved in Ghost E-commerce, as it involves acquiring certain customer data and transferring it online. This data needs to be protected and is of prime importance for e-commerce businesses. If the information is leaked or hacked, businesses are likely to suffer losses.
E-commerce businesses need to take precautions to ensure that customer data is not misused by any outsider. Below are a few ways how to protect customer data:
Have strict data security policies
Businesses should ensure there is a strict data security policy in place. This will help in safeguarding customers’ information. Companies should clearly define what information they can collect, the type of data they can collect, and how long they can retain the information.
Reducing the scope of data collection and storage helps mitigate the risk of a data breach. Clients need to divulge the bare minimum of personal data in order to have access to their accounts.
Using cloud-based archiving software, which deletes old files for you after a configurable amount of time, is one way to streamline the data preservation process.
Specify your cookie policy
Cookies are pieces of information provided by websites and stored on a user’s computer to improve their experience when browsing the web in the future.
However, cookies may provide a security risk. Therefore, it is imperative that your e-commerce website include a cookies policy alerting visitors to the fact that cookies are being utilized.
Users must be informed of your website’s privacy and cookie policies in accordance with data privacy regulations.
Provide an option for users to opt out
Every time you request personal information from a user, you must provide them with a simple way to decline. Users should be able to revoke their consent at any moment, so make that process simple.
Businesses should let users know that their personal information is going to be used for a certain purpose and that at any time, they can withdraw their consent.
Users should have a simple way to reject cookies if personal data is being collected through them.
Implement multi-factor authentication
The best way for stores to verify the identity of their digital customers is to use multi-factor authentication (MFA). In order to access their account online, customers will need to present not one, but two forms of identification using this technique.
For example, a user will need to confirm their identity when they log into their account using their username and password. At the same time, users can verify their identities by receiving a one-time password (OTP) sent to their phone numbers.
This approach bolsters security and can help eliminate fraudulent activity.
Use SSL encryption
SSL encryption is the most basic security measure available for e-commerce websites. It enables customers to safely transmit data such as credit card details, billing information, etc. to the site.
The use of SSL certificates ensures data is encrypted and unreadable to anyone other than the sender and receiver. This offers complete protection for sensitive data such as credit card numbers.
The PCI DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard) requires SSL certificates for e-commerce websites and this also qualifies as PCI DSS compliance.
Businesses that have SSL certificates embedded into their websites will receive the green address bar in the URL bar, which indicates that the website is secure.
Use secure servers
For e-commerce websites, data security starts from the servers used to host the website. It should be ensured that the servers are password protected and can be accessed only by a limited number of people.
Choosing a server provider that offers 24/7 monitoring and DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) protection is essential.
Also, the servers should be located physically in an isolated area, away from other resources and facilities.
Use advanced firewall protection
Firewalls are software applications that monitor network traffic. They can detect suspicious activity and block any unauthorized data transfers, thus protecting a business from data breaches.
Firewalls check and filter outgoing and incoming traffic, and keep track of all the traffic that enters or leaves the network.
They safeguard the entire network from virus attacks, hacking, and unauthorized data transfers.
Businesses using firewalls prevent any unauthorized access to sensitive information and ensure that e-commerce websites are protected against any security threats.
Train your employees on data security
E-commerce businesses should educate their employees on security measures to make employees aware of the dangers that e-commerce can pose.
Training employees on how to avoid phishing attacks, social engineering, etc. will ensure that they stay away from any data breach.
In addition, training employees on how to handle customer information, such as employee identification numbers, credit card numbers, etc., will help protect customer data from leaking.
Restrict access to data
Restricting access to sensitive information like credit card numbers and passwords ensures that only authorized users can access this data.
Creating different access levels for different employees, restricting access by IP address, and setting up password policies, will help protect e-commerce websites from any data breach.
Conclusion
E-commerce businesses must implement strict data security measures to prevent leaks or hacks of customer information. Implementing all the measures discussed above will not only protect businesses from data breaches; it will also help build trust among customers.