You don’t need to look very far into the news to find a story about a damaging cyber-attack; take this recent example from the UK which saw the computer systems of a number of businesses – and more notably the NHS – affected by ‘ransomware’. Not only did this mean these systems had to be shutdown, it also demonstrates how vulnerable older systems can be and how those without the right protection can easily become compromised.
As the sole owner of an eCommerce business, what you shouldn’t do then is live in fear, or simply neglect to get your company the online protection it needs. Instead you should consider some of the following approaches to help make your website more secure.
#1 Penetration Testing
For a comprehensive breakdown of where different weaknesses and vulnerabilities are in your eCommerce website, you can go through what’s known as ‘penetration testing’ where a third party carry out a simulated attack on it. These can then show you which areas need to be addressed and these companies can assist you in making sure your security is up to date and that you can help prevent your website being attacked.
#2 Get Yourself Up to Speed
Another big part of all this is making sure that you, yourself are as clued-up as possible on internet safety. Have a look online and consider some of the approaches you can take to safeguard your website, this might include:
- Regularly changing passwords
- Installing anti-virus software and firewalls
- Recognising fraudulent emails and transactions
- Updating to the latest versions of the applications and software you use
- Limiting the amount of information, you’re uploading to your website
#3 Create Backups
On top of the above, it can also be a good idea for you to regularly back up your company data, so if anything is lost you can quickly recover it. This can be especially important in the business world, as you will need records of sales and purchases no matter how big or small.
With all this you might be thinking that as an entrepreneur, you don’t have the time to run a business and get some, or all, of the above in place. Well, the reality is that you should be making time as you don’t want to risk your eCommerce website becoming another example of what can happen after a cyber-attack.
So, if you do have any concerns try the above and afford yourself protection and peace of mind.