How to protect your eCommerce website in 2024

Before we go deeper into learning more about how you can protect your online site, you should initially know more about the most common online attacks that 87% of businesses face every single day. Having said that, here they are:

Structured Query Language (SQL) is a standard coding language that is commonly used by online attackers to access databases. This includes users manipulating databases, and retrieving sensitive information from the database. SQL injections are not the same; there are three common types of SQL injections and they include:

• In-band
• Inferential
• Out-of-band

Regardless of the type of SQL injection, they all possess harm and you want to be prepared for the attack.

Chargeback fraud includes everything that is a chargeback request. For example, an online attacker falsely claims that they placed an order and returns it by using someone else’s credit card. In this case, they are receiving the money and not the legitimate buyer.
Chargeback requests can occur because someone might not be satisfied with the product’s quality, meaning that it doesn’t meet their expectations.
There are three different types of chargeback fraud:

• Friendly fraud: The most frequent type of chargeback fraud. Friendly fraud is most common when someone purposely goes to a bank for initiating a refund and abusing the company's refund policy.
• Criminal fraud: A credit card is stolen for purchasing goods and services without any approval from the cardholder. The trick here is that the legitimate credit card holder will claim that they didn’t make the purchase and a refund will go right to the credit card stealer.
• Triangulation fraud: This is where the online attacker is the seller and buys a product, shipping it to the customer’s address. The stolen credit card will give a refund because the customer claims they didn’t make the purchase, but the money will go to the online attacker. This is probably one of the worst-case scenarios involved with online fraud.

Moreover, there is plenty of software you can use for reducing chargebacks. Many new fraud prevention software like SEON are incorporating new technologies for preventing and reducing these attacks. One of the most common ones is data enrichment, which does the following:

• Conducts a digital footprint analysis
• Provides you with a domain analysis
• Email address profiling
• Regular data breach checks
• Blacklist checks
• Risky connections

The data isn’t only available for present use, but also for future use too, where it can be used for showing all chargeback fraud attempts whenever you aren’t too sure if you should accept the payments or not.

Malware has been around for a long time, since when computer software was first used. Malware attacks can include anything from a virus, to spyware, worms and other nasty attacks. Malware is responsible for hacking into sensitive information, erasing data, infecting online sites and holding your site hostage. In short, they can come from anywhere!

Denial of Service (DoS) and Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) are the same, but differ technically. DDoS attacks are responsible for blocking out your ecommerce traffic. They’ll either use a device or a botnet to attack your site. These bots or devices have malware in them and can easily infect your site. On the other hand, we have DoS, which tries to drop your site with spam traffic and makes it difficult for visitors to access it, due to a crash or time out.

Also known as Cross-site scripting, it’s a code injection attack that seeks to inject damaging scripts onto your internet browser. It’s a common attack used on forums and all pages that will usually include user comments. It’s quite easy for an XSS attack to change all of your content and redirect traffic from your site. Big companies like Fortnite have been hit by XSS attacks in the past.

Overall, there are plenty of attacks you might face when owning an ecommerce site, so it’s important to learn more about them. Worst of all, many new attacks are emerging that we still not might know of. However, also keep in mind that if you don’t know about the attack, you might as well not be able to effectively prevent it either.

Statistics show that online attacks have increased by 38% in the past year. Therefore, your ecommerce security level matters a lot and let’s not forget that your customers and business’s sensitive information is in your hands here.

1. Conduct periodic SQL checks
As we said before, SQL injections are common online attacks, so performing periodic checks for the safety of your website is important. There are different kinds of software you can use for helping you monitor your e-commerce site in case of any SQL injections. However, before you use any software, always make sure to read reviews and see how effective it’s in preventing and monitoring SQL injections.
Run daily checks for any suspicious activities and if there are vulnerabilities, you can eliminate them before they fall into the wrong hands.


2. Always update your site
The second online attackers find vulnerabilities, the app developers will fix them. Updating your website software always comes with new security patches that prevent vulnerabilities. To be on the safe side, always read what the new security patches are doing.

Maybe you’ve always been busy keeping up with other tasks, so you must turn on automatic updates instead of manually having to update them.


3. Set up strong passwords
If there’s something that online attackers can easily get a hold of, it’s a weak password. Every website requires you to set up a password and so should yours. Many users might think that it’s a good idea to use the same password for all of the accounts they create, but this isn’t a smart move.
Did you know that 90% of users worldwide are concerned about their passwords being hacked?
There are plenty of password managers you can use for storing your passwords there. Of course, managing many passwords is difficult, there are plenty of tips you can use for securing your passwords.
Moreover, to avoid giving online attackers any space for breaking into your data, you can require users to set up complex passwords and even a two-factor authentication (2FA).

A good start is to require passwords with at least 10 characters, using numbers and symbols. Also, as a standard rule, it’s best to ask users to change their passwords every six months. This is a good start for eliminating inactive profiles that online attackers might use as an “easy way out” strategy.

There are many password managers for different browsers and operating systems, providing a secure way to store passwords.


4. Use virtual private networks (VPNs)
Especially when you’re dealing with consumer data, transactions, and other sorts of important data, you need to pay close attention when transferring data on public networks. VPNs are responsible for encrypting your connection to ensure you are off site and block out all third parties that try to intervene.
Many organizations use OpenVPN because it’s free to use and acts as an open source.



5. Create backups
A backup plan is the same as an insurance policy. You don’t want to use them, but in case anything does happen, you have them there to back you up. In case your e-commerce store crashes, many things can go wrong, from losing sales, to customers, and much more.

You don’t want this to happen and imagine having to re-build a site back up? This might be the worst-case scenario you would have to go through. Backup plans are good because whatever happens, you have your site again. How good can it get?


6. Avoid granting access to everyone
By this, we mean, to avoid granting special access to the wrong people. For example, if you’re the only admin on your site, you shouldn’t grant access to just everyone. You can specify all the certain tasks you expect from individuals and even your internal team members.

Did you know that around 75% of employees have stolen at least once from their employer? That’s a large number and not something pleasant to experience, so it’s best to grant access to the right people, even in your own team.

Don’t ever allow your eCommerce site to go unsecured

With the rise of online attacks, the last thing you want to happen is to have your sensitive information get stolen. Especially if you aren’t prepared for it, this makes things worse for you and your ecommerce store.
Online attackers can be anywhere at any time, preparing something that will destroy your brand’s reputation and might put you out of business for good. Therefore, always seek to secure your online store before it’s too late.