How To Secure Retail Cybersecurity in The Age of E-Commerce

Many retailers swiftly created their initial e-commerce stores in the early days of the pandemic. For example, others enhanced their services by adding online ordering with curbside pickup.

The epidemic hastened the shift to e-commerce stores by five years in just a few months. This emphasizes the importance of bolstering retail cybersecurity.

As a result, there is now more data in the cloud than ever before, both public and private. Now that the dust has settled, store owners should examine their retail cybersecurity and security breach measures to ensure that the processes and technologies they implemented are effective.

With more customers buying from their homes, protecting your business from retail security risks is more important than ever. Examine the threats to retail cybersecurity and how to avoid them.

Examining the threats to retail cybersecurity while safeguarding Customer Data

Knowing your consumers’ demands today and anticipating their wants tomorrow, both in terms of products and customer experience, is critical for long-term retail success. However, doing so with an e-commerce store is more complicated than a physical one.

The key to acquiring these vital insights is to use the data you already have. Using consumer data to develop personalized experiences can improve revenue and enhance return on investment (ROI).

Retailers often group Consumer customer data, although this is incorrect. Businesses must consider each form of customer data separately since it has a different commercial value and risk component.

Furthermore, many client data are stored on various platforms and servers. To adequately safeguard each type, you must know where it dwells.

In the age of e-commerce, one major impediment to strong retail cybersecurity is the increased complexity of client data security. Data access is required for merchants to digitalize.

They need customer demographics to fine-tune their marketing strategies and inventory statistics to keep their shelves supplied.

Customer’s personal and financial information is also required for shoppers to shop effortlessly and start where they left off, whether on mobile phones, laptops, or stores.

The next step is for online retailers to store all this information and use it well. As a result, they invest in cloud-based storage plans, feature-rich web stores, upgraded retail store point-of-sale (POS) terminals, and revamped mobile apps, among other things.

These assets boost the volume of data that travels across their network. They also open new access points for threat actors to attempt to mount an offensive.

Threat actors, for example, are increasingly focusing on credit card skimmers rather than POS malware. Injecting malicious code into e-commerce checkout pages using self-removal and other tactics to avoid detection is expected.

They also use steganography to hide viruses within photos or to create a veil over the data theft process.

Cybersecurity in retail can potentially be jeopardized by fraud. It starts with a digital attacker getting into a legitimate shopper’s account or employing upfront staging to create their account.

They do this to make the account appear honest for a while. The attackers then employ those resources to carry out schemes like reshipping scams and use stolen credit cards to buy high-end items like jewelry or laptops and have them shipped.

Your clients entrust you with their personal information. And, as a store, you must preserve their trust by safeguarding their data and keeping them coming back.

You can use the data you acquire to improve the customer experience and develop loyal customers for your business if you take the correct steps with your retail cybersecurity protection initiatives.

Best practices to secure your retail digital transformation business

The retail landscape has shifted tremendously over the last year and a half. While online commerce existed before the pandemic, stay-at-home orders ushered in a new era of online retail for both sellers and customers.

If you are looking for ways to improve the security of your retail digital transformation, here are a few things you should consider.

Protect your servers and control panels.

Most E-commerce sites come with default passwords that are easy to guess out of the box. Businesses should take precautions to replace default passwords with strong, complex passwords. In some situations, organizations may be able to set up the hosting site to alert an administrator if an unknown IP tries to log in.

Make sure you defeat the bots.

Bot-blocking software is helpful; even the largest online retailers can have bot traffic issues. Furthermore, bots can purchase large quantities of your merchandise, which their human operators can later resell on the internet or elsewhere for a profit. Captcha and other cyber security software technologies might help you avoid bots.

Prevent malicious web content and email files from entering your network and endpoints

by blocking unknown malicious web content and email files. Endpoints can still let attackers through despite security protections in some circumstances. Make sure your company has a solid security solution in place that is capable of proactively detecting advanced threats.

Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS)

which helps enterprises better manage credit card security, should be followed by e-commerce businesses. This security measure is mandated by law in numerous European countries and many US states.

Customer information should not be stored on your website

The backend setup of a website is often the first visit for hackers looking for accessible information. Hackers won’t be able to steal data if it exists in the first place. But you’ll need a place to keep your data, right? Consider storing client data with a third-party company.

Stop cloud-based assaults

with a cloud-native application security solution that is fully automated.

A valid SSL certificate should be maintained by online retail locations

to prevent cyber criminals from extracting credit card numbers and other sensitive information. On the customer side, an SSL certificate signifies that your online store is a secure location to shop.

Patching systems regularly is essential.

Software developers want to assist you in safeguarding your business. They plan the patches they publish to accomplish this. Occasionally, a cyber threat actor will identify a vulnerability before deploying a fix. Zero-day assaults are what they’re called, and they’re something you should be aware of.

Use firewall software if possible.

Network firewalls can often prevent unsecured traffic from accessing your site. Inbound and outbound internet traffic that passes via specialized web servers can be protected by web application firewalls (WAFs). E-commerce companies can benefit from WAFs. They can filter out dangerous web traffic automatically and allow administrators to manually control who can and cannot visit a particular website.

Incorporate numerous layers of protection into your system

A multi-layered approach can improve security and reduce overall retail risk. Every layer of security, from two-factor authentication to Content Delivery Network (CDN) protection, can help thwart attackers.

Although operating an online retail space may not necessitate a large number of staff, be sure that employees who handle online information are trained in cyber security best practices. Although it may not be possible to eliminate human error, you may be able to reduce the number of malware installations or other security-related blunders caused by employees.

Cyberattacks are becoming more sophisticated and even automated, which is unfortunate. That is why, in the aftermath of the COVID-19 outbreak, there is no better moment to implement security measures to ensure retailer business continuity.

Closing thoughts

When providing merchants with the best possible consumer experience, focusing on strategy, analytics, and a high-quality user experience at every touchpoint is imperative.

Against the backdrop of a rapidly changing digital retail market, merchants are finding themselves vulnerable to growing and increasingly sophisticated cyber-attacks.

Cigniti’s innovative retail software solutions help companies meet their customers’ needs better. We’ve worked with major companies on Digital Quality Engineering for the Retail Industry on anything from food to fashion to e-commerce.

Payment systems, supply chains, ERP, warehouse management, retail store POS software testing, and other Enterprise ecosystem applications must all work flawlessly on today’s E-commerce platforms.

Cigniti provides “World-Class” e-commerce through UI and user experience Testing (across OEMs, Browsers, and Operating Systems), Holiday Readiness Testing, and checklists that enable e-commerce portals and retail software testing companies to be prepared for PCI DSS certification.

Need help?

Talk to our E-commerce and Retail experts about testing E-commerce websites. They will help you provide a solution for your business. They will further demonstrate how to scale the quality needs to create a robust e-commerce security platform that will cater to all your retail cybersecurity and shopping needs.