eCommerce Cybersecurity Tips for Small WooCommerce Businesses

Online security is the highest priority for every brand that launches a web presence in the modern-day age. And it doesn’t matter if you are a startup or a well-established company. Cybersecurity should be your highest priority, especially when it comes to your WooCommerce project. Managing your WooCommerce cybersecurity shouldn’t be rocket science. Using the tips that we highlight in this post, you can keep your WooCommerce project always protected against hacks, frauds, and other kinds of online attacks.

eCommerce Cybersecurity Tips

Whenever you think about launching a website, be prepared for threats like Distributed Denial of Service. In the dark web, the DDoS attacks can be launched against your website for as little as $10 per hour. In most cases, hackers target small business projects that are more vulnerable and less protected. Does it mean that all small businesses are doomed to be hacked? Not necessarily. You need to ensure that you take all preventative measures to keep your web pages well-defended. Let’s see how you can do it.

Use eCommerce Cybersecurity Plugins

There are plenty of free and premium plugins available in the WooCommerce extension library. You shouldn’t have any troubles with the choice of eCommerce cybersecurity extensions for your web store. One of the key things that are likely to influence your decision-making is the budget of your eCommerce project. If you can afford it, it’s better to rely on premium WooCommerce extensions, especially when it comes to cybersecurity. 

Also, make sure that you download plugins from reputable web resources, with good reviews. Installing a poorly coded plugin on your website makes your online resource an easy target for hackers. The plugin should also include regular updates and be fully compatible with the latest versions of WordPress and WooCommerce. 

So, what plugins can you rely on? Wordfence Security is one of the most reliable and time-tested eCommerce cybersecurity plugins that will check your CMS for vulnerabilities and issues. Having it installed on your website, you may feel certain that your current theme, plugins, and leftover files from the previous WordPress versions will be carefully checked. 

The plugin installs and activates similar to any other extension for WordPress. To initiate the website security check, you need to open the plugin’s dashboard and navigate to the “File Scan” option. The security check will automatically launch. It may take some time to check all files of your eCommerce project. It takes more time to check larger eCommerce sites for vulnerabilities.

When the security check is completed, you will see a list of vulnerabilities the plugin finds on your website, along with recommendations on how it should be fixed. 

Use Safe Passwords 

The following information will be especially useful to those businesses that work with freelancers. It’s more cost-effective to get the needed job done by a freelance writer or designer than by an in-house team employee. Another side to a coin is that freelancers often work in cafes and other public places with unsafe WiFi connectivity. It put them at the mercy of hackers who can capture sensitive information when your outsource team members log in to the dashboard of your WooCommerce site.

LastPass is one of the most popular web browser extensions that let WooCommerce store owners generate, store, and share reliable passwords with other team members while simply entering the recipient’s email. The extension sends an invitation to that person, letting him/her login to your site without actually possessing the login information.

Use Real-Time Monitoring to Avoid Zero-Data Attacks 

The most advanced WooCommerce cybersecurity tools can handly manage to react to zero-day attacks. In simple words, hackers target the most vulnerable pieces of web pages when a new piece rolls out and before cybersecurity companies get a chance to react and detect a potential threat. 

Even if you install the most advanced antivirus system on your website, malware can still infect your web resource before the threat definitions get updated. The steps that you can take in this situation is to use a threat intelligence platform that would keep you updated on the latest threat data in real-time. The feature is called Security Information and Event Management (SIEM), which is a data package that is used to protect your WooCommerce site from data loss, file integrity violations, and other repercussions associated with cyber-attacks.

Build Buyer Confidence with Security Seals 

Besides using WooCommerce cybersecurity plugins and SIEM services, it’s vital to leverage buyer confidence in the safety of online payment methods used on your website. Gaining buyer confidence, you can increase the conversion rates of your site, thus improving the commitment of your business to robust cybersecurity. 

About 50% of online customers will hesitate about placing orders on websites that cannot guarantee the top level of payment security. It’s a significant revenue loss, especially for startups and small businesses. To avoid this from happening, ensure that your website is backed by a valid SSL certificate. A customer can easily check if your website is safe by checking out the “lock” icon next to the URL address of your site. You can also showcase other trust badges and security seals issues by the services you use on your web page. 

Leverage a Content Delivery Network 

A Content Delivery Network (CDN) is a set of proxy servers placed in different locations worldwide. These servers can share the load of hosting and distributing data to your website visitors.

In fact, there are many reasons to use CDN. First of all, it can significantly reduce the latency your distant customers may have. It results in faster page loading speed and improved user experience. It’s not a secret that websites that do not take longer than three seconds to load have more traffic and better sale rates. 

If we are talking about WooCommmerce cybersecurity, you may opt for such CDN services as Incapsula that already come with integrated cybersecurity features, web application firewall, backdoor shell protection, etc. Thus, you can hit two birds with one stone – prevent security attacks and ensure that your website provides fast page loading speeds to customers from the most remote areas. 

Wrapping up 

The importance of WooCommerce cybersecurity shouldn’t be underestimated. Making use of these simple yet working tips, you can ensure that your eCommerce project is resistant to any kind of online threats and that you can achieve the highest level of customer satisfaction with your eCommerce services.